A programme to improve football pitches across Stone and Stafford has moved a step closer as Stafford Borough Council has been selected as part of a national pilot scheme to improve grass pitches in the area over the next ten years.
The announcement was made by the Premier League, the FA and the Government’s Football Foundation – the UK’s largest sports charity aimed at improving the experience of playing football for everyone, by championing fair access to quality facilities.
The borough council was selected following a successful process which included a detailed condition survey of local pitches.
The Football Foundation will work with the council and other local partners to devise a delivery plan and explore funding opportunities to improve well-used pitches across the local area
The local authority has 21 pitches in the borough that could benefit from the programme – with the potential of securing £2,500 per pitch for the work. As part of the pilot scheme, council staff will be uploading pitch inspections to a new app which will be used by the Football Foundation to decide on the level of support the authority will receive.
Work is currently underway to prioritise the list of sites for improvement using information from the Local Football Facility Plan. The plans have been created for every area in England and are the culmination of two years work with local authorities, County FAs and other stakeholders to identify projects that together represent a blueprint for building what each community needs and deserves.
Councillor Carolyn Trowbridge, Cabinet Member for Leisure, said:
“I am really pleased we have been selected and being part of this pilot scheme is a great opportunity for us to work alongside the Football Foundation to improve the condition of our grass football pitches and show our ongoing commitment to grassroots sport in the local area.”
Having launched its ‘Power Up Your Grass Pitch’ campaign in November last year, the Football Foundation is on a mission to improve over 7,000 grass pitches by 2024 and 20,000 by 2030, to ensure the 12 million grassroots football players across the country have great places to play.
The ‘Foundation’ has developed ‘PitchPower’ – a free ground-breaking web app that gives every club and organisation the ability to carry out their own grass pitch inspection.
Once submitted, organisations will receive an assessment report with bespoke recommendations and advice from experts at the Grounds Management Association (GMA) on how to improve their pitches.
This report also serves as a gateway to access Football Foundation funding to support pitch improvements.
Related Posts:
