The mayor of Macclesfield has welcomed an investment in the Rugby Drive playing fields following the "persistence" of the Tytherington Juniors football club secretary.

Funding was granted to the scheme following a campaign by Tytherington Juniors secretary, Matt O'Brien who described the state of the playing fields as a "laughing stock".

The improvements to the playing fields, which suffer from drainage issues, will be paid for using £307,000 of Section 106 funding.

Section 106 funding comes from housing developers paying money to Cheshire East Council to improve local infrastructure.

Mr O'Brien said: "Around 16 months ago now, in my new role as Tytherington Juniors FC secretary, I had the long term aim of bringing some of our 16+ teams back to Tytherington to play.

"Unfortunately, none of the pitches around our area were actually good enough to use. At which point I thought about looking into funding and had a friend help me, between us we discussed that there was a monumental pot of S106 funding available for the site which had been untouched in years."

Mr O'Brien found that the money has been available for years and was originally earmarked to improve local sports facilities.

He said this "oversight" has meant the Tytherington Juniors have wasted money on hiring pitches and local children have been unable to play football locally for years.

"Thankfully, when it became apparent that I was on to something, I then took the matter to Cllr David Edwardes, who in turn liaised with Cllr Lloyd Roberts and between us we have been fighting nearly every day to get to where we are today, with the help and support of Matt Smith from ANSA," Mr O'Brien added.

The pitch improvements, have been a project which has been 14 months in the making, has been described as a "monumental challenge" by Mr O'Brien, but he believes its worth it so sports teams and residents can have "such brilliant pitches".

The mayor of Macclesfield, Cllr Sarah Bennett-Wake said: "The development of the Rugby Drive playing fields is a fine example of Macclesfield Town and Cheshire East councillors listening to their residents.

"The persistence of local football coach, Matt O'Brien has paid off with Section 106 funds being put to good use for the whole of the Tytherington community."

She added: "The well-drained football pitch will be used by young footballers from across Macclesfield and the planned 'clubhouse' will become Tytherington's community hub."