£200,000 Project to Increase and Improve Football Pitches

£200,000 Project to Increase and Improve Football Pitches

 Work has begun on a scheme that will increase the number of football pitches and improve the quality of existing pitches in north east Lincolnshire.

 North East Lincolnshire Council's sports development unit has secured £196,975 of Lotto money from the New Opportunities Fund Playing Fields and Community Green Spaces programme to improve the Bradley Road Playing Fields.

 The programme funds projects which help communities gain access to playing fields and green spaces.

 A specific strand of the programme was to bring disused playing fields back into operation and to improve existing pitches through draining and reseeding.

 Bradley playing field was created around 50 years ago as the main venue for football in the Grimsby area. The site currently serves more than 4,000 football and cricket players. Throughout the past year the council has been working in partnership with the local football leagues to identify the priorities for football development on the Bradley site.

 The local partnership came up with a number of priorities including providing football pitches at the disused former police authority site, to improve the quality of playing pitches, to improve security of the site and finally to improve the changing accommodation.

 The first element of the project involved the Council securing the freehold of the land that was originally owned by the local police authority.

 The funding, provided by the New Opportunities Fund in partnership Sport England, will be used to fund the re-instatement of three football pitches at the currently disused former Police Authority site and to fund the installation of a land drainage system for a total of eight pitches on the site. It will also allow the installation of a small perimeter fence around the site to prevent it being used for fly tipping.

 Councillor Geoff Lowis, portfolio holder for regeneration and community learning, said: "This project demonstrates the council's commitment to the provision of outdoor playing pitches and together with the developments at the former Ross sports ground addresses the recent trend within this area of losing sports grounds and pitches to alternative uses."

 Councillor Martin Vickers, portfolio holder for environment, said: "This is great news for local sportsmen and women who use the Bradley site.

 "We must now continue to work together with the local sporting community to secure vital improvements to the changing accommodation and ancillary facilities at Bradley."

 Tony Parrott, chairman of the Grimsby, Cleethorpes & District Sunday Football League, said: "On behalf of the local leagues we welcome this news, as it is the first step in providing a high quality sporting complex that meets the existing and future needs of the local community."

 Roger Draper, chief executive of Sport England, said: "Sport England's role is all about supporting sport at the grass roots - and that's exactly what the Green Spaces programme is all about.

 "We were really impressed with North East Lincolnshire Council's bid and the support from other partners and the community as a whole. That's why we have made Lottery funds available."

 The next stage of the project will aim to improve and increase the changing accommodation at the site.

 The council will be working in partnership with local leagues and football clubs and the Lincolnshire Football Association to submit a bid to the Football Foundation for funding to improve and increase the current changing facilities.

 The Football Foundation is a national charity, launched in July 2000, by the football authorities and the Government, to provide investment into the grass roots of football.

 The Foundation represents a unique partnership of the FA Premier League, the Football Association, Sport England and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which jointly contribute £53M which the Football Foundation distributes in grant aid.

 It is envisaged that work will be completed by the end of September and that local footballers will be able to play on the improved pitches by the end of October.

 19 August 2003

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