Work could start on six new changing rooms at Cheltenham Rugby Club in the next few months.

Club president Dave Townsend said that after their successful crowdfunding campaign – they topped their £55,000 appeal target by £6,000 – the first bricks could be laid at the end of June.

The six changing rooms will be an extension to the existing clubhouse at the Newlands and, said Townsend, will be “RFU and Sport England compliant, are large rooms for up to 22 players each, have integral showers and welfare facilities – they are state of the art and something the club will be truly proud of”.

The club currently have eight changing rooms – all very small even for football teams, and only have one communal shower room which clearly is no longer fit for purpose.

Planning permission was obtained in 2010 for floodlights, changing rooms and an artificial pitch, the changing rooms are phase two of the four-phase project. The floodlights were installed in 2012.

The plan is to then turn the current changing rooms into a gym and physio rehab area, which clearly will enhance the sports provision at the ground, once the six new changing rooms are fully operational which should be within 10 months of the work starting.

If that wasn't enough, the ambitious Western Counties North club have also submitted amended plans to install an RFU floodlit artificial grass pitch in front of the clubhouse.

Talks with the RFU, who will meet the £800,000 installation costs, are at an advanced stage and if, as expected, the club are given the go-ahead, the work, which will take 12 weeks, is planned to start in the spring of 2018.

There are currently four rugby pitches and two football pitches at the Newlands. Those numbers won't change if the artificial grass pitch gets the go-ahead although Townsend said the training pitch would be slightly reduced in size. However the AGP (artifical grass pitch) will provide a facility for the community to use all day every day.

Townsend is excited by the prospect of a new artificial pitch. “As part of the World Cup legacy, the RFU is providing 60 artificial grass pitches across the country and we have been nominated to host one after an extensive vetting procedure and our full compliance the RFU's selection criteria,” he said.

“Steve Ratcliffe [club chairman] and I have visited the ones at Hornets in Weston and Aylesbury and they look very good, those clubs are delighted with the facilities these pitches provide and we are hopeful of similar benefits. The RFU manages these pitches and they last for 30 years. They are revamped and resurfaced every 10 years.”

It's been a busy time for the club who have also recently installed a £55,000 floodlit multi-use games area at the Newlands. It is already popular with footballers, netballers and walking footballers and Townsend added: “We are trying to build a community club in north Gloucestershire.”