Wokingham borough will need to provide another eight artificial football pitches by 2040.
That’s one finding of Wokingham Borough Council’s playing pitch strategy (PPS), which came before a meeting of its community and corporate overview and scrutiny committee last night (Monday).
The committee was unable to scrutinise the plan due to the late addition of several documents to the agenda.
The strategy will now come before the committee at a later date.
The PPS is an assessment of the supply and demand for sports pitches, and how that may change over time from the present day to 2040. It has been undertaken in line with Sport’s England’s ‘Playing Pitch Strategy Guidance, which included comprehensive consultation with national sports governing bodies and sports clubs.
Currently, Wokingham playing pitch facilities enable more than 10,000 residents to regularly enjoy participating in sports.
The PPS confirmed football is by far the most popular sport within Wokingham Borough, with 70 football clubs having 654 teams between them. Cricket is the next most popular sport, with 20 cricket clubs having 192 teams between them.
Rugby and hockey currently only have four and three clubs respectively within Wokingham Borough, having 46 and 93 teams respectively.
The PPS will be the key document that can be used by all stakeholders, including the council, to focus and prioritise investment in sports provision to both existing residents and to communities that will form as a result of development.
It assesses current and future needs for football, cricket, rugby and hockey, as well as the non-pitch needs for tennis, bowls and netball.
The key need identified is for an additional eight artificial grass pitches (AGPs) to meet the requirements of borough football teams. Whilst there are needs identified for the other sports these are modest by comparison.
The PPS action plan recommends that the majority of the need for new AGPs should be delivered through a number of key development funded projects, such as Grays Fruit Farm, Hogwood Farm and potentially the Hall Farm strategic development proposed – subject to its inclusion in the proposed submission version of the local plan update.
The location of other AGPs would be subject to an acceptable site being identified.
The PPS shows that the most significant demand is for APGs to allow all teams within the borough to meet the Football Associations aspiration for each team to have at least one hour per week of training.
There are currently 654 football teams in Wokingham Borough – meaning there is currently a requirement for 17 full size AGPs. Given that there are already eight full size AGPs, and two smaller sized AGPs within the borough, the current shortfall is eight AGPs.
The PPS action plan identifies the following suggested delivery strategy for the key football need for eight additional AGPs and up to nine adult grass pitches:
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Three x AGPs and four adult grass pitches at Gray’s Fruit Farm, adjacent to the South Wokingham strategic development location.
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One x AGPs and one adult grass pitch at Hogwood Farm as part of the Arborfield Garrison strategic development location.
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One x AGPs at Woodley, most likely on an existing grass pitch. Aa feasibility study is required in order to identify an acceptable sites.
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One x AGPs at Earley, most likely on an existing grass pitch. Afeasibility study is required in order to identify acceptable sit.es.
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One x AGPs and four adult grass pitches as part of the potential Hall Farm strategic development location.
It is important to note that the suggestion of additional pitches in the Woodley and Earley area are subject to suitable sites being available. Further investigation and engagement is required to consider achievability.
