Footballers in Colchester have 55,000 reasons to raise a cheer.

A new floodlit, all-weather pitch is to be built at Pondfield, off Harwich Road, St Anne's, thanks to a £55,000 grant from the Football Foundation.

Work on the multi-use games area, which will be available for other sports as well as football, is scheduled to be completed by Colchester Council by the end of July.

The total cost of the project is £90,000, with the rest of the money coming from a £10,000 grant from the UEFA Jubilee Programme and £25,000 from the authority's own funds.

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