A £5m scheme to create a sports village beside a huge housing estate and employment site has taken a major step forward after landing a £643,000 European Union grant.

Hambleton District Council said the European Regional Development Fund grant would be used towards the costs of preparing land, developing allotments and installing a 1km fitness trail at the Sowerby site, near Thirsk.

A spokesman for the authority said a contractor had been selected to undertake the first phase of work to create the sports village, which is planned will include an extended floodlit astro pitch for hockey, served by a new two storey pavilion, an artificial grass floodlit floodlit pitch, and grass pitches for training.

Other planned facilities include two grass rugby pitches, one floodlit, a four-lane grass track circuit with sprint track on the home straight, cycle paths and fitness trails, a skate park and BMX Skills track, 18 allotments, a cafe, cycle workshop and another pavilion.

The sports village, plans for which were unveiled five years ago as a key community element of the 925-home Sowerby Gateway housing development scheme, will also feature a pavilion, four car parks with a total of 300 spaces and a community garden.

The site will be designed to create a permanent base for local sports clubs and organisations to enable them to grow in a high quality and sustainable environment.

It is planned that further phases will benefit from grants from the Football Foundation, Rugby Union Football and Sport England.

Developers behind the Sowerby Gateway housing and commercial development will also contribute £1.5m towards the nine-acre sports village.

Councillor Bridget Fortune, the council’s leisure boss, said the authority had secured the grant by presenting the European Union with “a sound business case, based on local needs and aspirations”.

She said: “When we look around Hambleton district we have fabulous sports personalities, including five Olympic medallists that have benefitted from living in the area.

“This scheme is ambitious. Young people have aspirations to achieve and we should be giving them the very best facilities we can.”