MALVERN Town councillors have agreed to donate more than £1,000 to a local football club to pay for equipment for maintaining its grounds.

Newtown Sport Junior Football Club applied to the council for £1,028.92 which it will use to pay for a line marker and hedge-trimming and lawn-cutting equipment.

It will use the equipment for its site off Sling Lane, near the town centre.

At the council’s policy and resources committee meeting on Wednesday evening, Rob Eyles of the club gave a presentation explaining why it was asking for the grant.

“We want the grant to help us maintain the upkeep of the area, not just for us to play football, but for the founders club who play there, for all the people who walk their dogs there and for all the children who play there,” he said.

He said the club, which was founded in 1979, provides footballing opportunities for more than 140 young people aged from five to 18.

The application was approved unanimously by the committee.

Coun Clive Smith said: “This is a positive move that we should fully support.”

The club was earlier the focus of controversy when it was awarded a 25-year lease on the field off Sling Lane by Malvern Hills District Council.

Malvern Town Council has made two unsuccessful attempts to acquire the land and an attempt by local residents to acquire it on a community lease was rejected.