A RESCUE plan has been drawn up to save plans for a sports hall for a town centre school and its surrounding community.

Greenfield School Community and Arts College, in Newton Aycliffe, had expected to get a £1.3m sports facility to be used by pupils and residents of the town.

Funding for the scheme had been earmarked in the second phase of a £7.3m package of County Durham school sports hall projects through the Big Lottery Fund (BLF).

But when a change in BLF requirements pushed up the costs of first phase schemes in Peterlee, Bishop Auckland, Wolsingham and Durham City, the Greenfield project was left more than £400,000 short. Left with £900,000 for the scheme and no other way of making up the shortfall, Durham County Council was told to use the cash or lose it.

To ensure the Lottery cash was not lost altogether, the council drew up a fresh scheme within the budget.

The school has also offered to inject more than £16,000 to make up a further shortfall on the latest revised cost.

The council's cabinet yesterday backed the proposals and is seeking approval of officials at the Big Lottery Fund for the revised work.

Education director Keith Mitchell told councillors that the slimmed-down scheme would still provide a four badminton court-sized sports hall and equipment store as plan-ned, but not all the ancillary facilities including a fitness suite and changing rooms.

However, members heard the building has been designed so it could be easily extended to provide the omitted facilities at a later stage when resources allow.

Durham County Council 's cabinet member for children's services, Neil Foster, said: "These sports halls provide local access to state-of-the-art teaching and community facilities for huge numbers of children and adults in our sport-hungry communities."