A CROWDFUNDER set up to enable a basketball centre to buy the land it sits on has already raised nearly £4,000.

Hoops Basketball Centre in Barrow only announced that it was seeking funds on October 11.

But an outpouring of support has seen it raise almost £4,000 - although there is some way to go before the target of £10,000 is reached.

When the fundraiser was launched, a spokesman for the centre, situated near Cliff Lane, said on social media that the Hoops team had a 'moral responsibility' to 'try and secure the long-term future of the site for sports and recreation use'.

"We can only do that by trying our best to buy the land at auction, and we can't do it without your help," he said.

"It's a mammoth task with a short timeframe, but we're hoping a Crowdfunding campaign will move us towards the goal."

The land is going up for auction on November 17.

Hoops has existed since 1998. It was constructed with a grant from the National Lottery and is used more widely as a community resource.

The Crowdfunding page says: "There is no immediate threat to Hoops, we have the remainder of the lease.

"But we are concerned that the most likely purchaser of the land at auction would be a developer hoping to fill the available space with housing.

"Whilst any potential development could currently only go on around us, once the land is gone, there is no going back.

"At the expiry of our lease, our future would be uncertain.

"What happens in 27 years’ time is unlikely to affect the current trustees, but we all feel a moral obligation to do whatever we can to secure the long term future of Hoops for generations of local sports people and to maintain the land around it for sport and recreation.

It says: "We cannot do this alone, we simply do not have the resources. So we find ourselves turning to you, the community, for help through this Crowdfunding campaign.

"Together, we believe it is possible."

Visit tinyurl.com/6mbwzf5x to donate.