A NEW sports pavilion looks set to cost Belton Parish Council much less than expected after contractors submitted valuations for the building work.Chris Dove, the borough council's service manager for capital projects, told a meeting of the parish council last Thursday seven companies had tendered contracts for the facility on New Road playing field, with the lowest coming in at only £380,000.

A NEW sports pavilion looks set to cost Belton Parish Council much less than expected after contractors submitted valuations for the building work.

Chris Dove, the borough council's service manager for capital projects, told a meeting of the parish council last Thursday seven companies had tendered contracts for the facility on New Road playing field, with the lowest coming in at only £380,000.

This estimate was £40,000 lower than the expected estimate of between £420,000 and £430,000, but Mr Dove said when he looked into the figures from building contractor John Youngs they all seemed to add up.

He added when he phoned the Norwich-based company he was told the price had been lowered because John Youngs needed the business with the recession hitting the construction industry hard.

Mr Dove said: “If we go ahead and accept this tender I think we must be careful we must not give them any excuse to make additional claims for cost and therefore stick as closely as possible to the design specification for the site.”

The council is due to hear this month whether its applications for grants worth £300,000 from the Football Foundation and recycling organisation WREN have been successful.

Any decision on whether to go ahead with John Youngs' tender will have to wait for the public consultation process to be completed.

Leaflets detailing the pavilion plans are set to be distributed to homes in the village in January before a public meeting is arranged for a later date to discuss the proposals.

The aim is to have the pavilion up and running by the end of 2009 providing changing rooms for Bohemians Youth FC, while the Belton FC adult team could also play their home games on the playing field.

Belton Cricket Club may also play their home games at the playing field, but this is dependent on the council securing extra land for the pitch, which may not happen until 2010.

But the pavilion will not just be available for sports teams, there will also be a community room which could be used as a conference centre and training room for village groups and businesses.

Many councillors also supported the idea of having a new youth club at the pavilion.