Sports hall and cricket pavilion in Bury St Edmunds approved

The cricket club has two pitches on the Victory Ground site

A new community interest company has been granted permission to build a sports hall and cricket pavilion in Bury St Edmunds.

St Edmundsbury Borough Council has approved the £2.1m scheme for the Victory Ground in Nowton Road.

The council has already agreed to transfer the land, which it owns, to the new company.

The hall will mainly be used by the private South Lee School, but it will be available to other clubs and users.

The company is made up of a consortium including the school and Bury St Edmunds Cricket Club.

David Barker, president of the cricket club and a governor at the school, said: "We're hoping that a range of other sports such as badminton, basketball and fencing, which don't have particularly good facilities in Bury St Edmunds, will have that sports hall made available to them."

The granting of planning permission coincides with the visit of the <link> <caption>Olympic torch relay</caption> <url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchrelay" platform="highweb"/> </link> to Bury St Edmunds on Saturday.