Playing field upgrade set to begin

A Major upgrade to playing fields used by a junior football club starts this week paid for with cash raised from a new housing estate,

The project at the fields in Lockyer Avenue in Burnley will cost £85,000 financed by a contribution towards the improvement of the pitches from developer McDermott Homes as part of its nearby Kiddrow Lane homes development.

The scheme will improve the quality of the football pitches and facilities which are used as the base for local club AFC Wolves Junior Football Club.

The main body of the work is scheduled to start on Monday June 17and be completed by late August although pitches won’t be back in use until spring 2025.

As part of this work, McDermott commissioned the Sports Turf Research Institute to prepare detailed designs for the pitch improvement scheme.

The site is uneven and suffers from poor drainage with matches having to be postponed for large periods of the year due to pitches being too wet and unplayable.

The re-grading of two-thirds of the site will help alleviate these problems and improve pitch quality and playing capacity to achieve a more level playing field and provide better football facilities for young people in the borough.

Kieron Roberts, Burnley Council’s parks development manager, said: Although the regrading exercise won’t solve all the problems, we are hopeful that additional aeration and compaction work will help further.

“Ultimately, the improvement works will go a long way to improving the overall quality of the playing fields so that they can be enjoyed year-round and provide a much-needed community facility that will help improve the health and fitness of our borough’s youngsters.”

McDermott Homes made the Section 106 developer’s contribution to the council as part of the planning permission for the new Kiddrow Lane housing estate.