Site set for £11m sports village

The site for a new £11m leisure village, including swimming pool and sports courts, for East Cambridgeshire, has been announced.

The district council has earmarked farmland off Downham Road in Ely for the new development, which could be finished by 2010.

It will also have the potential for a cinema to be built.

Councillors are examining funding for the project. Most is expected to come from the private sector.

Council chief executive John Hill said: "Not only do we need more facilities, I think we need better quality facilities.

"Many of the facilities we do have are coming to the end of their contracts so we would have to spend considerable amounts of money repairing them.

"Why not look ahead and build a new facility, which is what we are trying to do."