Shropshire Star

£1.7m football pitch in Telford gets the green light

New football pitches and changing rooms are set to be built after the project was given the go-ahead.

Published
Plans have been given the green light

Councillors approved the £1.7 million plans close to Telford Snowboard and Ski Centre in Madeley at the Telford & Wrekin Council planning committee meeting in Wellington on Wednesday evening.

The council-led project will see the construction of a 3G grass multi-function pitch that can be used as an 11, nine or five a-side football pitch or as an 11-a-side hockey pitch.

A four-team changing room will be built as a single-storey extension to the existing ski lodge as well as floodlights, a 40 space car park and new road access off Court Street.

Five out of six members on the committee agreed to approve the project – subject to a number of conditions.

This included ensuring the pitches were not in use past 9.30pm and that floodlights were turned off by 10pm, as opposed to the original finish time of 10.15pm.

And, that Sport England supported the proposals and the amendments that had been made by the council to the application.

Among those to back the plans was Councillor Charles Smith, who said: “This will make better use of the land already there.

“When I saw it would be finishing at 10.15pm – I think 9.30pm would be a reasonable time to finish the games. We really ought to be moving that. We need to go back and look at turning the lights off for 10pm.”

In total, the council will provide £427,000 of funding for the scheme while the rest will be coming through the capital programme.

It is hoped the scheme will see around 42,000 admissions of adults and juniors.

One member of the planning committee abstained from passing the proposals.

The go-ahead comes after the project received more than a dozen responses – many in favour while some residents expressed their concerns over the potential increase in vehicle movements along Court Street.

Councillor Nigel Dugmore, who passed the plans, raised concerns over the lighting, hours of operation and increased traffic in the area.

He said: “Court Street itself is not exactly a wide throughfare. I am concerned to the increased usage. I appreciate the fact that the lightning has been reduced but I do have an issue with the fittings. LED lighting is a lot brighter. Most of my ward has had the LED street lights and I have had numerous residents complaining that people think traffic is travelling down the road because it is very bright.

“If the games have finished at 9.30pm at the last, by the time people have cleared the site it will be 10pm.

“The current hours are until 10.15pm. The weekend hours are fine the lights should go out at 10pm.”