New community sports village opens in Blackpool
It's hoped the Centre will encourage girls to take up football
A new £6m sports village has opened in Blackpool.
The Common Edge Community Sports Village includes 14 new grass football pitches, along with a full sized 3G football pitch, sports pavilion with changing rooms and community space, plus a grass rugby pitch and training area.
The new facilities were officially opened by Manchester United defender Jess Simpson to coincide with the finals of the Blackpool Primary School Games, with 80 girls from 8 schools competing on the new 3G pitch for the first time.
Blackpool Council is currently taking a lead in growing girls football across the town, working to ensure over 90% of primary schools in the town offer equal access to regular football outside of lessons, and at least three quarters of local schools make girls football available in PE lessons.
The seven 11 v 11 football pitches are complemented by five seven-a-side and two nine-a-side pitches. Additionally, a full sized 3G all-weather pitch is available with access directly from the new changing rooms. Grass for a new floodlit rugby pitch and training area is growing ready to use later in the year.
The new sports pavilion also includes six changing rooms, two officials' rooms, two kitchens and a large community room. A 194-space car park with sustainable drainage and new access road to the sports village has also been completed as part of the works.
The sports facilities provide a major upgrade from the previous facilities and will provide a range of new football options for community and youth football teams. The football pitches and changing rooms are now available to hire via www.activeblackpool.com.
Cllr Jo Farrell, Cabinet Member for Levelling Up (People) at Blackpool Council, said: “Opening one of the first new sports developments in Blackpool for many years shows our commitment to making Blackpool better and creating more opportunities for the local community to play sport and stay active.
“The grass football pitches have been used for competitions like the Blackpool Cup already and received outstanding reviews for the quality of the facilities and playing surface. The FIFA-approved 3G pitch also means an all-weather option for local football teams of all ages as well as being available to hire by individuals.
“The new sports pavilion is a significant upgrade on the previous Common Edge facilities and offers a quality experience for anybody playing or watching.”
The sports village has been developed as phase one of the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone, and improving the community sports facilities allows 10.5 hectares of land at the former Collins Park site to be unlocked for commercial development.
Work to build a new access road connecting Common Edge Road to Amy Johnson Way is hoped to start later this year, creating access to for 235,000 sq ft of development plots which will become available for growing or relocating businesses.
The commercial units will help the Enterprise Zone to achieve its targets of creating 3,000 new, quality jobs for local people and spark £300m of private sector investment in the town.
Support to build a new access road to the sports village, as well as the new access road to Amy Johnson Way, has been provided through a £7.5m grant from HM Government Town Fund, while £250,000 of funding for the construction of the sports pavilion was granted by Football Foundation.
Lead design consultants for the Enterprise Zone Cassidy + Ashton worked on the plans for the sports pavilion and football pitches, with Wildes Consulting leading on highways design for the new junction. The pavilion was constructed by Conlon Construction while STRI group installed the new pitches and AE Yates constructed the new highway.
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