A YORK secondary school has won permission to create a new £500,000 all-weather floodlit pitch.

Playing fields at Canon Lee School, in Clifton, will be turned into a new facility for pupils, local sporting groups and other community organisations to use after approval for the scheme was granted by City of York Council’s planning committee.

The school has said the pitch would allow sports such as football, hockey, netball and tennis to be played throughout the year and help it achieve its aim of earning an “outstanding” rating from Ofsted.

The pitch will be open for use between 8.30am and 9pm, Monday to Friday during term time and open half-an-hour later in the morning during school holidays.

It will also be available between 9am and 4pm on Saturdays and 9am and 2pm on Sundays, and the floodlights will have to be switched off no later than 15 minutes after those cut-off times.