Town councillors have unanimously approved a £10,000 spend as works to launch a major new digital history project in Kenilworth gather pace.

New Mayor of Kenilworth Cllr Alan Chalmers earlier this year revealed his dream of creating a new augmented reality application, which would allow locals and tourists to have a glimpse of the town's history on their mobile phones.

The project could allow users to hold up their devices at various locations in Abbey Fields and see the abbey in its heyday - the year 1500.

The Abbey Fields Augmented Reality (AFAR) project could cost up to £150,000, with most of the funding expected to be raised through external sources possibly including the National Lottery.

But Kenilworth Town Council recently approved a £10,000 budget from its CIL fund - money raised from housing developers - for parts of the project.

£7,500 of the money will pay for 25 stone plaques to be positioned in a grid across Abbey Fields to provide "adequate coverage for the geolocation of the AFAR project and other interesting aspects of Abbey Fields".

The rest will help pay for high speed broadband in the fields, at St Nicholas Church and the museum to help support users access the application on their mobile phones.

Warwick District Council will help maintain the broadband.

The council also said the broadband would benefit park users including parents at the children's play area.

The application is hoped to include the story of the abbey, which will be linked to the castle "encouraging the visiting of both".

Cllr Chalmers' professional background at the University of Warwick sees him research high-fidelity multisensory virtual experiences.

Explaining the project earlier this year he said: "The idea really is to have an experience that is something else that brings people to Kenilworth. 

"We already have the castle but this is another thing. 

"The idea is to make it very engaging, especially for a younger audience. 

"At the moment if you go to Abbey Fields there is some grass and eventually there will be a swimming pool. 

"But this is something else that will be another reason to come to Kenilworth."

A recent update to Kenilworth Town Council said the next step of the process will be deciding where the plaques are based, how to make the application engaging and varied, and how many actors will be needed for the re-enactments needed to create the application.

The council hopes to have the application live next year, with a company to take forward the project expected to be appointed in January.