NEARLY £1m has been granted to a North-East town to revamp a football centre and develop grassroots football.

The Football Foundation, the UK's largest sports charity, has given £973,976 to Hartlepool Borough Council.

It is the largest grant handed out by the charity to the North-East and will revitalise a run-down football centre at the Grayfields Recreation Ground.

The centre will include a new pavilion and a floodlit artificial pitch for players of all ages and abilities.

The existing pavilion was built in the 1950s and has been vandalised. It is hoped the revamped site will attract more junior, disabled and female players to the game.

Almost 1,500 players a week are expected to regularly use the site, which will become home to 20 teams from surrounding areas.

Mayor of Hartlepool Stuart Drummond said: "We have been working for some time now to bring in funding to uplift Grayfields and we are delighted that the Football Foundation has granted such a large sum of money."

Funded by the FA Premier League, the Football Association and the Government, the Football Foundation has invested £11m in almost 50 projects across the North-East.

Foundation chief executive Peter Lee said: "The Grayfields project is an outstanding example of how football can make a real difference and is set to lead the development of the game in the town."