Plans for two brand new football pitches worth £2.6m have been endorsed at a key meeting tonight.
Wirral Council’s Tourism and Leisure Committee backed plans to build the 3G pitches, with most of the cost to be paid by the Football Foundation, at Wirral Tennis Centre in Bidston and next to Woodchurch Leisure Centre.
The local authority recently detailed its plans to build a brand new pitch and a pavilion next to Woodchurch Leisure Centre, with the design and access statement, put together by Surfacing Standards Limited, saying it will replace a former running track which has fallen into disrepair and has not been used for more than 20 years.
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The statement added that the pavilion could be used by a wide variety of groups.
The document read: "When not used by 3G pitch/players/officials/spectators, the pavilion and its social space with kitchen will also be available during the week for other daytime community groups, for example, small keep fit or 'stretch' classes, yoga, weight-watchers, and other similar 'passive' activities.
“This smaller and more discrete space may be preferred by some groups to the more boisterous and larger spaces offered by the nearby Leisure Centre.”
Wirral Council’s budget, which was approved last week, includes plans to save £20m by closing down leisure services including Woodchurch Leisure Centre.
Under the plan, the council will save £402,000 per year by no longer maintaining the facility, although local groups have until September 30 to submit bids to keep it open under a community asset transfer.
The proposal to close the leisure centre has been highly controversial with some calling it “disgraceful” and thousands signing an online petition to save it.
But the closure of the leisure centre, or the saving of it by a local group, would not affect the football pitch proposal.
Overall, the Football Foundation will provide most of the funding, with Wirral Council providing £840,000, just under a third of the total cost.
At tonight’s meeting, Andrew McCartan, Wirral Council’s assistant director for leisure, libraries and customer engagement, said the authority was probably around 70% of the way towards completing the football pitch plans and that he hoped they would be operational by the end of the next financial year, which is at the beginning of April 2023.
Cllr Steve Williams, who represents the Conservatives, wanted to know what could be done to improve existing grass pitches, noting that some teams have had “quite a bit of hassle” with their pitches recently.
Mr McCartan said climate change had affected pitches in recent years, with several downpours.
The council officer admitted there had been a decline in the quality of grass pitches in recent years.
Paul Hurst, Wirral Council’s modernisation officer within the neighbourhoods team, said the authority was putting together a cost schedule and looking at what it needed to do to bring grass pitches up to specification.
Lib Dem councillor Allan Brame noted a reference to three other sites where the council had considered putting in new 3G pitches, but which may be inappropriate.
He also wanted an assurance that the new pitches will be priced at a level which was attractive to football clubs, noting that many said they were worried about cost.
Mr McCartan said existing pitches in Leasowe and Bidston continuously sold out and lots of teams were looking at artificial pitches for winter games, given matches had been cancelled due to torrential downpours and thought demand would be less of a concern for the council.
His colleague Mr Hurst added that the three other sites considered were Arrowe Country Park, where there were planning issues, a site in Leasowe which was not yet confirmed and Leverhulme playing fields in Bromborough.
Mr Hurst said the funding balance on these sites had moved more towards infrastructure costs, making it less attractive to the Football Foundation.
The council officer added a report said Wirral needed 15 more artificial pitches, so the council was looking at more sites, and that the Football Foundation wanted to provide value for money for teams, meaning it did not want them to pay more.
Mr Hurst said the organisation wanted to see football teams pay an appropriate rate to use new 3G pitches.
