A £700,000-plus scheme to establish a five-a-side sized 3G all-weather football pitch at Appleby has been unveiled.
The aim of creating the new facility at Appleby’s King George V playing field is to reduce wear and tear of the main pitch, which has suffered drainage issues and problems caused by overuse.
Appleby Football Club has been working in conjunction with Eden Council, which owns the King George V Field, and a formal application to the Football Foundation is due shortly.
If successful, the funding bid would also pay for refurbishment of Appleby football and squash clubhouse, which the council leases out on a peppercorn rent basis.
“The provision of a five-a-side all weather fenced and lit training area would greatly reduce the stress and damage on the main grass pitch. It would also be made widely available for other sports or activities throughout the year,” said a report which went before a meeting of Eden Council’s cabinet on Tuesday.
The meeting was told that in November, 2021, Eden Council commissioned the Grounds Management Association (GMA) to carry out an assessment of the condition of the pitch at the King George V playing field. The report confirmed that it was in a poor and unsafe condition, and cited field drainage problems and football overuse of the field as the main causes. It recommended a reconstruction of the field’s drainage be undertaken at an estimated cost of around £50,000, in addition to reducing the usage and wear of the main pitch.
In February, 2022, the council set aside a £50,000 capital budget to start the work during the closed season. In October last year, contractor J Mallinson (Ormskirk) Ltd, completed the drain reconstruction works, supervised by the GMA.
During the same period an application for funding toward the works was submitted by the council. In March, 2022, the Football Foundation awarded the council a £25,000 contributory grant towards the cost of field drainage reconstruction work.
The grant award means that only £25,000 of the council’s own resources is required and it was therefore proposed and agreed that this unused cash should go towards supporting the budget proposal for a 3G pitch.
Appleby district councillor Karen Greenwood said: “It is a really popular and well used piece of land and it has needed a lot of work recently, but because it is so well used and because the club at Appleby use it so much, the 3G pitch project will be a really valuable additional asset in the town. I look forward to seeing its completion.”
A question mark, however, exists over where exactly on the King George V playing field it is proposed to site the new 3G pitch.
