Thousands of pounds worth of funding will be used to improve the village hall, play area and cricket club in West Alvington.

The West Alvington Parish Council received a total of £52,869 of funding from South Hams District Council in 2022, which will be used to benefit the community.

£26,191 was given for improvements to the village hall, which will allow the council to replace doors and windows, and provide external cladding, soffit boards and roof covering.

South Hams District Council said: "The work will ensure the long-term sustainability of the hall, and allow it to continue to be used for sports and recreation including dance, pilates and boot camp classes, as well as other community uses."

£17,416 was provided for additional play equipment and adult fitness equipment at Townsend Lane play area and playing field, and £9,262 was given for further enhancements to the play area and field.

Kingsbridge Cricket Club (which is based in West Alvington) also received £17,337 to help purchase grounds maintenance equipment.

The council said: "This equipment will keep the club’s pitch in tip-top condition for youth, men’s and women’s training and matches."

The funding came from Section 106 money, which relates to the Home Field planning application. This was paid to the Council by WestCo Properties Ltd, which are a subsidiary of LiveWest.

South Hams District Council’s Executive Member for Health and Wellbeing, Cllr Jonathan Hawkins, said: “This Section 106 funding for West Alvington is going to make a real difference to the community. It protects the long term viability of an important community resource in the village hall, refreshes the outdoor play equipment and will help preserve the cricket club’s pitches.

“It’s always really encouraging to see S106 money being spent to benefit so many people, as that is its exact purpose. The West Alvington community should see a profound benefit from all of this work being carried out.”

Mrs Katharine Harrod, West Alvington Parish Clerk, said: "West Alvington Parish Council are thrilled to have been able to add to the play facilities at the parish playground. We worked closely with the school to ensure that the new equipment would help to boost development of the regular users including balance and motor skills. We were also fortunate enough to have sufficient funding to add some adult gym equipment, for which we have received positive feedback.

"The works to the hall have not yet commenced, we hope to have a start date shortly. The new windows/doors and other associated works will make a huge difference to the facility and will certainly benefit all our hirers.

"We would like to thank South Hams District Council, particularly Alexis Huggins, for working with us to enable these achievements to be realised.

"We would also like to thank The Play Company, based at Torr Quarry who worked closely with us, providing a wide variety of options within our budget, the Councillors were very pleased to be able to award the contract to a local company.

"The Parish Council and the Village Hall committee are dedicated to the long term management and upkeep of these facilities."

Leon Harris, Senior Development Manager for LiveWest, said: “We were delighted to deliver quality, much-needed rural affordable homes in West Alvington that helped meet local need.

“We are committed to building vibrant communities and it is fantastic to see our financial contribution has been used towards the improvement of local community facilities which will further positively impact the lives of our residents in the local community.”

if anyone would like to help with this endeavour, they can get in touch at [email protected] or talk to one of the West Alvington Councillors.