Penrith Football Club volunteers are hoping for the right result as they bid to carry out major improvements — including an artificial pitch — at their home stadium later this year.
Previously based close to the town centre, the club transferred to a new ground at Frenchfield Park on its outskirts in 2009 as a Sainsbury’s supermarket and the New Squares retail complex were created at Southend Road.
Problems plagued the club during the early years at their new home but a dedicated band of volunteers, with loyal support from local businesses, have battled to rectify deficiencies.
Extensions have also been added to the clubhouse. And on the pitch the club has grown massively, currently boasting more than 30 junior and senior male and female teams while also offering pan-disability football.
In late 2021, the club’s landlord Eden District Council backed the award of a £100,000 grant for investment in the stadium infrastructure. Since then, the club has sought to unlock further major funding from the Football Foundation, is committed to injecting its own capital and lodged plans for a major revamp.
An application submitted to the council seeks permission to replace the current natural grass surface with a full sized 3G artificial grass pitch (AGP), along with new floodlighting, a crowd rail and replacement dugouts. New 4.5-metre high boundary fencing is also planned.
A 3G pitch has previously been identified as a “priority project for potential investment” in the area and the proposal reveals that Penrith AFC is now seen as the preferred location for this.
A design and access statement submitted as part of the planning application says: “This facility will offer an excellent competition surface for football across a wide range of recognised game formats from mini-soccer through to National League System football.”
Penrith chairman Billy Williams, a former club player and manager, hopes the planned improvements will be backed by football teams across the town and beyond.
“It has been a difficult challenge for everybody within the club, since relocation, to make it a success financially. We’re a couple of miles out of town, our gates are probably a quarter of what we used to get up at Southend Road so obviously it’s trying to get a business model so we can compete both on and off the field,” he told the Herald.
If Penrith AFC’s plans are given the green light, the 14 to 16-week project could kick off in late May or early June with the potential for future jobs to be created.
One drawback is that work could see the club’s men’s first team play a batch of games early in the 2023-24 Northern League season away from home, wiping out home match day revenue for several weeks.
However, a number of spring/summer fundraising events are mooted to make up that initial shortfall. Williams said he had spoken to representatives of other non-league clubs — including Gretna FC 2008 and former Northern League outfit Stockton Town — both of which have AGPs.
“It’s a big step because a lot of people prefer the grass pitches, but, having talked to them, they’ve convinced me that it is the way to go,” he said. “It’s going to be a challenge and one we’ve got to face up to, but it’s a challenge we take on knowing that it’s hopefully going to pay off in the long term.”
And the chairman added: “Hopefully, we’ll attract a lot more people down to the club who will also maybe become interested in playing a part in helping to run the set-up.”
