A £250,000 grant has kicked off a £1m project to build an all-weather football pitch at Aylsham’s growing community sports ground.
The goal is to put a 3G floodlit facility at Youngs Park ready for action by summer 2024 for use by the town’s football club teams, as well as Norfolk FA Schools, the community and other clubs, in all seasons and all weathers.
The scheme has been boosted by the £250,000 grant from the Infrastructure Investment Fund of the Greater Norwich Growth Board – a partnership of councils which promotes and speeds up infrastructure delivery.
The announcement enables its backers – Aylsham Football Club and The Youngs Community Sports Trust – to secure further grant support from the Football Foundation, the government-backed FA and Premier League charity improving grassroots football facilities.
The project is already listed as a priority in a 10-year strategic plan for improvements drawn up by national and county sports development bodies.
Ian Potter, football club chairman and Youngs trustee, said: “This is amazing news for this project, which has been always been part of our vision, bringing the £1m investment required closer to reality while creating sporting legacy for Aylsham, not just for the club but for the community.”
The £1.2m Youngs Park complex was opened in November 2015 with 12 pitches, a community building and 120 parking spaces. But the success of the football club, plus use by a range of community users across Norfolk, means pitches are under pressure, particularly when the weather turns bad.
“The club has grown 70pc in seven years to 34 teams and groups, with over 500 local people playing sport up at Youngs Park most weeks – aged from three-year-olds as part of the Mini Kickers programme to people in their 70s doing walking football every Friday. Youngs Park is also the home for Norfolk FA Schools boys and girls teams.
“One of our key goals is to run and develop an inspirational facility for current and future generations of our football family – but we have serious ‘growing pains.’
“The 3G facility will enable matches and training to continue in all weathers– particularly when it’s wet and can result in grass pitches becoming unusable, leading to cancellations and disappointment,” added Ian.
The fenced-in facility will be located on the middle full-sized pitch next to the main floodlit one. It will be marked out for a range of pitch sizes, a spectator area and eco-efficient LED lighting.
Following the Growth Board grant the club and trust will continue to work with the Football Foundation, to finalise the grant application and deliver the project. The club and trust need to contribute £35,000 as part of the project, with the hope of securing naming rights for the 3G Arena very shortly through a local business sponsor.
Planning permission will be applied for, with the Football Foundation recently appointing a contractor to carry out the work – due to start in a year’s time.
There will also be a drive to attract new volunteers to help run the growing sports and community facility, which Mr Potter said is an “amazing achievement with all the other pressures in life, that local people are passionate about giving up their time to support the club and this fantastic community asset.”
The Growth Board giving the seed corn grant is made up of Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council, South Norfolk District Council, Broadland District Council and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership. It was one of nine grants totalling £10m agreed by the board today (March 30).
Norfolk Football Association head of facilities Ian Grange added: “Delivering a full sized 3G pitch at Youngs Park is a key priority for the development of grassroots football in the Aylsham and surrounding area.
“The project has been identified strategically via the Greater Norwich Playing Pitch Strategy, and the Local Football Facility Plan for the Broadland district, and will deliver significant outcomes including increased participation levels in sport and physical activity, improvement in levels of mental wellbeing, and improved community cohesion.
“The pitch will benefit Aylsham FC, providing new and existing players with access to excellent football facilities all year round, with a potential opportunity for other grass root community clubs.
“Norfolk County FA is fully supportive of this project and looks forward to working with the football club and The Youngs Community Sports Trust to see the project through to delivery.”
Growth Board chairman Cllr John Fuller says the grants show its ambition to make real improvements to benefit residents and visitors giving local communities long-lasting benefits that will make a positive difference to their lives.
