A STATE of the art outdoor gym facility in Highbridge, costing tens of thousands of pounds, was among several grants handed out by Sedgemoor District Council at the recent Grants Committee.

Communities across the Burnham and Highbridge area will benefit from grant funding following the council committee meeting on June 28.

The largest grant handed out was £30,000, which was set aside to enable the construction of an outdoor gym facility in Apex Park, Highbridge.

A spokesperson for Sedgemoor District Council said: “We are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all residents, and we fully appreciate gym memberships can be expensive and are not always practical for a variety of reasons.

“Outdoor gyms offer all ages and abilities to chance to get active in a green and free of charge setting.

“We are looking forward to unveiling the design in the coming months and seeing the local community get to use the fantastic new equipment.”

The grants for the outdoor gym have come from using RLT3 (£24,000) and RLT 2 (£6,000) developer funds. 

RLT2 contributions aim to ensure that new housing developments provide ‘additional facilities for outdoor play’, while the aim of RLT3 contributions is to ensure that new housing developments provide ‘additional facilities for outdoor sport’.

Although there are no plans currently available for the project, the council has said ‘it is likely to be similar to the outdoor gym recently installed in Coronation Park in Bridgwater’.

The project will go out to tender shortly with completion planned by spring 2017.

There were many other grants handed out to local projects and groups at the Grants Committee, including East Brent Parish Council, who will receive £10,000 towards the installation of play equipment in Rooksbridge play area.

West Huntspill Parish Council will receive £11,699 towards installation of a new toddler swing, goal and ECO bond surfacing in Ilex Park play area.

Burnham Area Youth Centre was awarded £1,500 to repair the upper roof of the centre.

Wedmore Scout Group received £2,500 towards insulating and weatherproofing the roof of the scout hut.

£180 was awarded to 290 Squadron Detachment Burnham and Highbridge to provide 6 x VHF Transceivers as previous kit has reached end of life.

Burnham on Sea Motor Boat and Sailing Club received £1,250 to support the purchase of a second training gig to enable the club to meet demand.