A New Forest school has scooped a £1m new sports centre from a £6.6m cash grant to Hampshire from the lottery.

Totton's Hounsdown School, which has more than 1,120 pupils, has been given £1.4m to create a four-court sports hall complete with changing facilities.

Head Di Nightingale said the cash was "good news for Hounsdown and good news for Totton".

Two New Forest activity centres, which run fun outdoor courses for youngsters, are also winners in the hand-out.

Brockenhurst's Barn Outdoor Centre was given £102,000 to build an accommodation block for 32 people. Lyndhurst's Minstead Study Centre was given £481,000, also to build an accommodation block and a lounge area.

Six schools and two outdoor activity centres in the southern part of the county are to share the cash between them. The money will be spent on replacing outdated sport halls and gyms with gleaming new purpose-built facilities. It is hoped the cash will benefit more than 13,000 young people and over 10,000 members of the wider community.

Hounsdown head Di Nightingale said everyone would be better off now.

"We are absolutely delighted that we are to benefit. A brand new sports hall will enhance significantly the facilities for our pupils and enable us to provide opportunities for local community groups outside school hours.

"It's good news for Hounsdown and good news for Totton and the surrounding New Forest areas," she added.

The £6.6m comes from the lottery's New Opportunities Fund, as the county council pushes towards its goal of a dedicated sports hall for every one of its secondary schools.

The authority hopes the new facilities will lead to improved PE results and encourage youngsters to play more sport outside of school.

Architects are already hard at work on the plans and it is hoped building will start by autumn 2003.

Hampshire County Council's Executive Member for education, Councillor Don Allen, said: "This grant is extremely good news for young people and others who use school sports facilities across the county. Sports and outdoor education are extremely important for young people's development, not only for fitness but also for improving key skills and raising individual achievement through boosting self-esteem and motivation."