Agricultural land in Old Buckenham is set to be transformed into a playing field with multi-sports facilities.When a village action plan was drawn up, in 2002, the need for better recreational provision for older children was identified.

Agricultural land in Old Buckenham is set to be transformed into a playing field with multi-sports facilities.

When a village action plan was drawn up, in 2002, the need for better recreational provision for older children was identified.

There were initial hopes that a suitable site could be found for a skate park, which is what local youngsters put at the top of their list.

And although this has not proved possible, the parish council now hopes to use an agricultural field gifted to the village hall committee by the landowner to create other facilities that can be enjoyed.

Parish councillor Carol Marshall said: 'We have a missed a generation totally which is a shame, my son was 12 when we started this and he is now 20.

'The village hall committee would not allow a skate park so what we are going to do is have a multi-sports facility, which will probably benefit groups like the Scouts and Beavers and teams who play five-a side football, and a BMX track. Children of the village are going to have an input, and we were thinking of having a zip wire and one of those huge rope climbing nets,' she explained.

'We are hoping to get the planning go ahead from Breckland and then the problem is getting the money, and that is a problem now with the credit crunch and the Olympics which is taking a lot of the lottery funding,' she added.

The recreation project team has already raised almost �5,000 towards the costs and the parish council has pledged �5,000.

An extension to the village hall car park is included in the planning application which Breckland Council's development control committee is due to determine the planning application on February 16.