Extra cash for over-budget venue

The sports venue is expected to be opened in May 2010

An extra £2.38m worth of funding has been approved by North Lanarkshire Council to meet the rising cost of the new Ravenscraig sports complex.

Work at the £29m venue was delayed because of high steel prices and problems on site, including the discovery of a redundant mine shaft.

The council's policy and resources committee has agreed to provide funds to cover the additional costs.

Preparation work will begin at the former steelworks site in December.

Plans for the regional sport facility development were unveiled last year.

The Scottish government announced it would provide £7m worth of funding through sportscotland.

The need for extra cash to the keep the project on track was identified after detailed site investigations.

The Ravenscraig development is vitally important to our area and to the people of North Lanarkshire Councillor Jim McCabe Leader, North Lanarkshire Council

It emerged that additional excavation work would be required to get the ground ready for development.

North Lanarkshire Council said this latest announcement of an extra £2.38m was a clear sign of its commitment to the Ravenscraig project.

Council leader Councillor Jim McCabe said: "The Ravenscraig development is vitally important to our area and to the people of North Lanarkshire.

"The new sports facility will host local, regional and national sports, as well as leisure and cultural events.

"We will continue to explore all potential sources of funding with our partners sportscotland and Ravenscraig Ltd."

When completed, the sports facility will feature indoor and outdoor football pitches, a sports hall, an athletics track and a dance studio.

The Ravenscraig venue will boast a full-size indoor football pitch

There will also be six floodlit, synthetic five-a-side outdoor pitches, a state-of-the-art gym and an indoor soft play area.

The venue is in the running for selection as a pre-games training camp for the London 2012 Olympic and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

It will also be the main venue for the International Children's Games, hosted by Lanarkshire in 2011.

Ravenscraig Ltd, the company behind the £1.2bn regeneration of the brown-field site, welcomed the news that the council was stepping in to ensure additional money was in place to allow building work at the sports facility to go-ahead.

Project Director Jim Fitzsimons, said: "This is a major boost for Ravenscraig.

"The new regional sports facility is an important part of the wider development, and the decision by North Lanarkshire Council is a clear demonstration of its long-term commitment to the project.

"With internationally renowned architects HOK overseeing the design, it is certain to become a landmark building which will make a lasting contribution to the future of Ravenscraig."