A DARLINGTON school has won Olympic legacy funding to upgrade their football and rugby pitches.

Staff and students at Carmel College are celebrating after netting £49,105 of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Protecting Playing Fields fund.

The money will go towards improving the playing surface and drainage of waterlogged football and rugby pitches for the use of both students and Darlington residents.

Simon Hannaford, curriculum leader for physical education at the school, said: “We are delighted to receive this investment as we can improve the quality of our playing fields to match the talent of our football and rugby players.

“We will continue to develop grassroots sports at Carmel and are proud to be part of the 2012 Olympic legacy.”

The school is one of 76 projects across England to benefit from the funding, which also ensures the playing fields are protected from developers for the next 25 years.

The funding comes as more local sports fields across the country are to be safeguarded after Sport England announced a 50 per cent boost to the Olympic and Paralympic legacy fund.

The £5 million increase, made possible by strong sales of National Lottery tickets, is in response to huge demand for the programme from sports clubs and other local groups.

Sport England chair, Nick Bitel, said: “The popularity of this legacy fund shows just how important good local playing fields are to grassroots sport.

“I’m delighted that even more communities will now benefit thanks to this extra lottery funding.”