A mega new sports centre is set to be created in the south of Wokingham and the parish council of Wokingham Without is keen to make it work for residents.
A pick-your-own strawberry farm on Heathlands Road in Wokingham Without looks destined to become a centre for young footballers after Wokingham Borough Council bought the site in 2014.
Football is the most popular sport within wokingham, but there is a shortfall of eight 3G artificial grass pitches and nine natural grass pitches.
The council wants to provide three ‘3G’ pitches, four grass pitches of various sizes and a two-story pavillion potentially with a gym, studio space, soft-play facilities and a party room.
However access to the site, which is likely to have 450 parking spaces is extremely problematic, with other land nearby already sold at a premium for housing, and cars likely to enter through Heathlands Road – a windy country lane.
The complex on Heathlands road will fall within the parish of Wokingham Without and the Chair of Wokingham Without Parish Council, Nicholas Martin spoke to the LDRS about the plans.
Cllr Martin told us he was working closely with Mark Ashwell the Executive member for Economic Development, Sport, Leisure, Countryside and the Arts, at Wokingham Borough Council to develop the plans.
He said: “Wokingham Without Parish Council is pledged to work as closely as we can with Mark to help bring the project to a successful fruition.
“This close working between a parish council and the borough council is very much in line with the excellent initiative of the leader of the borough council, Stephen Conway, to see the borough and parish and town councils working closely with the borough council and for the benefit of residents.
According to Mr Martin, the Grays Farm project, actually goes back many years to when Angus Ross, a Borough Ward Councillor for Wokingham Without, identified the need for a site for sport pitches in the area around South Wokingham.
In fact the council had been looking for a sports hub site since 2008 for both north and south Wokingham, and the Council commissioned a feasibility study to look at two potential sites but seemed to be hitting a dead end when Grays Fruit farm site was put up for sale.
The Council successfully purchased the site for £2.8million for use as sports hub in 2014 and altered the approach to this infrastructure requirement in North and South Wokingham developments, by taking on the delivery of the sports hub funded from ringfenced developer contributions
“Wokingham Without is a non political council and we are happy of course to work closely with the borough council of whatever political hue. Angus Ross was a Conservative and Mark Ashwell is a Liberal.
“Wokingham Without Parish council is charged with participating constructively in the Grays Farm project whilst also ensuring that Pinewood continues to flourish as an important leisure centre for residents.
“People from all over the borough use Pinewood, which is really a national treasure and which is run of course by Wokingham Without Parish Council. Both the Gym club and the Judo club of Pinewood have sent members to participate in the Olympic Games.
“We at Wokingham Without Parish Council, anticipate people from all over the borough, and outside it even, will use the Grays Farm facility once it is up and running. It will have that in common with Pinewood.”
