TRESPASSING ponies will be a thing of the past for Woodgreen Village Hall.

The village hall committee has been awarded a grant of £4,312 by the Veolia Environmental Trust to fund the installation of a cattle grid.

The cattle grid, which will be at the rear of the hall on Hale Road, will prevent the New Forest ponies from entering the grounds and fouling in the area, which is used by a number of groups including the pre-school playgroup.

Committee member Julia Wilkie said: “A variety of different groups and organisations use the hall on a regular basis.

“The cattle grid this grant will fund will mean that we can keep the area around the hall, which is used throughout the year, clean and tidy.”

The Veolia Environmental Trust will start working with the village hall committee to finalise the details of the project, including the start date, to get it up and running as soon as possible.

The Executive Director of The Veolia Environmental Trust, Paul Taylor, added: “This grant rounds off a very busy 2014 for us, with us awarding a total of £6.8m to over 230 community and environmental projects across the UK.

“This simple project will benefit the hall’s many users and we look forward to seeing work start in 2015.”