AN MP and former Bradford City star helped kick off the use of a Ilkley's new all-weather pitch.

Ilkley Town’s new grass and all weather pitches were officially unveiled by Keighley and Ilkley MP John Grogan and former Bantams star John Hendrie on Sunday.

The club, based at Ben Rhydding Sports Club, Coutances Way, Ilkley, had its new pitches funded through a grant from the Premier League and The Football Association (FA) Facilities Fund.

The grant has enabled the club to install a state-of-the-art third generation (3G) artificial grass pitch and reconfigure their existing grass pitches.

Mr Grogan said: “This facility is important for the community and will be used by people of all different ages. It was good to see so many people using it.”

Other users of the facilities will include Ilkley Grammar School and Burley Trojans FC. Additionally, West Riding FA plan to use the pitches as a hub site and will support the club in developing the local game. As a result, overall sport participation on-site is expected to increase by 77 per cent.

The project was made possible thanks to a £376,613 grant from the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund, which is delivered by the Football Foundation.

Since 2000, the Football Foundation Funding Partners’ investment has provided 534 grants worth £19.8m towards grassroots sports projects worth over £39.3m across the whole of West Riding.

Founded in 2000, the Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK funded by the Premier League, The FA and Government, via Sport England. It develops new and refurbished grassroots sports facilities in order to improve the quality and experience of playing sport.