A FIVE-year battle to safeguard two pieces of village life in Sutton looks like coming to an end this week.

West Craven-based furniture giant Silentnight has owned the village's allotments and its cricket ground since it bought the former Bairstow's mill nearby.

And when it shut its Sutton factory in 1995, residents feared the worst. Their worries increased when the company sold the mill site to a housing developer.

But this week Silentnight handed over the deeds to the allotments to Sutton Parish Council to act as trustees.

And legal red tape surrounding deeds to the cricket ground is also about to conclude.

The allotments on Bridge Road had been originally earmarked for homes by Craven District Council.

But villagers managed to force a u-turn and, with the handing over of the lease, have secured the site for generations to come.

Sutton Parish Council is to form a new allotments committee to oversee the running of the gardens and fix annual rents.

Steve Morrell, chairman of Sutton Parish Council, said: "The council welcome the handing over of the deeds for the allotments by Silentnight. This should safeguard against development of the land for years to come and will enable villagers who use the allotments, to continue doing so.

"The acquisition of the land has implications for the council with regards insurance and maintenance of the beck walls which come with the land. We have been mindful, therefore, to include increased insurance and a maintenance budget in the council's financial planning for the coming financial year."

And a statement issued by Sutton ward councillors Ken Hart and Steve Place said they were delighted that Silentnight had honoured its promise to hand over the allotments.

"This large piece of village amenity land was designated in Craven's original draft plan in 1998 as prospective building land," they said.

"At the 11th hour we managed to persuade the council to re-designate it as amenity land, thus safeguarding its horticultural usage for generations to come.

"Our best wishes go to Sutton Parish Council and the allotment holders and our gratitude is extended to Silentnight for their gift to the people of Sutton."

The Herald understands the 99-year lease for the cricket ground has already been signed and just needs approval from lawyers.

This will pave the way for the club to apply for grants to give its dilapidated facilities a much-needed facelift.

Until now, the club only had a short lease, which prevented it from obtaining grants from the National Lottery and other bodies.

The cricket ground originally belonged to the Bairstow family, which operated the mill. Previous club members never thought to buy the ground as they believed the mill would never close.