By Matthew Taylor A BOLTON football club wants to develop a £1m community sports facility with lotto cash.

Blackrod Town Football Club is looking at ways of developing a "mini leisure centre" in the town.

Club chairman Roy Flatters said that currently there were not enough sporting facilities in Blackrod for the community.

The club has approached Blackrod Cricket Club members asking them to join in with the scheme.

However, the cricket club, which already has its own ground and club house, has only given the proposals "cautious support".

Blackrod Town FC doesn't own the pitches it plays on in Vicarage Lane and has to use the community centre for changing rooms. It has several teams, including junior teams, and says it has run out of space.

However, its plans have grown in the past eight years from simply having its own facilities to proposals to build something for the whole community.

Detailed plans have not yet been drawn up, but the club would like a floodlit all-weather playing area and indoor provision for a varied range of community activities.

Mr Flatters said: "It's already been put to Bolton Council three times and we have had a certain amount of encouragement.

"The last meeting we had we were asked to see if Blackrod Cricket Club members were interested in a joint venture with more ambitious plans than we were looking for."

But John Speak, a trustee for the cricket club, said there were certain issues which meant the plans would only be given a tentative welcome.

Among the worries, he said, were concerns the football club would want to use their assets to underpin the bid and whether a new facility for social events would be in competition with their club house.

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