BURNLEY will receive a further boost to its sports facilities next week with the opening of a new £4.2m sport centre to the public.

The state-of-the-art sports complex at St Theodore's Catholic Sports College and Sixth Form, Ormerod Road, will offer a range of indoor and outdoor sports and will boast an indoor sports hall, fitness room, dance studio, tennis courts plus a full size floodlit synthetic football pitch.

It will be used in PE lessons and other sporting activities and the new complex will also be available for use by Burnley residents outside school hours.

The new complex, called the Spirit of Sport, is on two tiers and has a large sports hall with cricket lanes, badminton courts, and a basketball court on the ground floor.

The top floor of the complex, paid for by Sport England, has a fitness gym with 25 work stations, a dance studio with a ballet bar and mirror, a seminar room, a computer room, and a kitchen area with vending machines.

When the school merges with St Hilda's RC High School in September to become Blessed Trinity 1,470 pupils will have use of the new centre. The merger and the loss of the sixth form make up part of the £250m Building Schools for the Future project. St Theodore's sixth form will merge with Habergham High School to create a new multi-faith community college.

Andy Montrose, director of sport at the school, said: "In a few months time we will have facilities that are second to none in Lancashire. The students have been very patient, now they are like kids in a sweet shop and are dying to get in."

Outside, three floodlit tennis courts that convert to netball courts have been installed, and a full length floodlit all-weather astro turf pitch opened last October.

To mark the launch an open day is being held this Saturday from noon to 5pm, when visitors will have the chance to have a guided tour of the complex and see the facilities for themselves.

Burnley Council's Area Facilities Manager Paul Foster said: "Spirit of Sport is a very exciting addition to the range of sports facilities already available to the public in Burnley and will literally have something for everyone.

"It will offer the very latest equipment for people to use, whilst also complying with the latest disabled access requirements."

The new centre will open every evening Monday Friday from 6pm to 10pm, Saturdays from noon to 5pm and Sundays 10am to 5pm.

For further details contact Paul Foster, area facilities manager, on 01282 664588. For bookings contact Maggie Dudgeon on 01282 664588.