It's been years coming, but now Grahame Park is to get not one but two all-weather football pitches.

Barnet College which is obliged to build an all-weather pitch in the area as part of a planning agreement dating from 1995 and the Government-funded Pinnacle Educational Sports Trust (PEST) are both set to build pitches on land owned by St James' Catholic High School in Great Strand.

The bigger Barnet College-run pitch will be to the north while the smaller PEST pitch will be to the south.

St James' headmaster Kevin McSharry said: "All of a sudden we've gone from nothing to having a surplus of riches. It will be a huge asset for Grahame Park."

According to new Barnet College principal Marilyn Hawkins, its pitch will open in September.

The college will pay the school a peppercorn rent in return for having the use of the facilities during the day alongside the college. It will be available to the public after school, weekends and during the school holidays.

The second, smaller pitch is being funded by money from the Government's single regeneration budget (SRB) and will be open to the public. Construction is expected to begin next month.

Cuthbert Martin of PEST said: "It's been worth waiting for and it's needed in Grahame Park.

"If it's not built, we will still see the same [social] problems here four years down the line."

PEST originally had planning permission to build the pitch on the Grahame Park Open Space in March last year but residents protested, claiming the pitch would attract drug use.

And not all residents are thrilled with the new location for the pitches, citing late-night noise as a concern.