Calderdale sport pitches to be improved under new Government and football organisation scheme

Calderdale has been selected as one of the local authorities to take part in the Local Authority Grass Pitch Programme, which aims to support improvement of grass pitches in council areas.

The programme was launched last October by the Premier League, the Football Association (FA) and the Government’s Football Foundation.

The programme pilot is for improvements to community pitches – for example, Savile Park in Halifax – but it is not possible to use this funding for the pitch at the Shay Stadium, where FC Halifax Town football team and Halifax Panthers rugby league team play.

The council’s Cabinet member for Public Services and Communities, Coun Jenny Lynn (Lab, Park) said it was “exciting” that Calderdale will be a part of work which forms a vital part of the FA and Football Foundation’s ambition to ensure communities across the country have access to 20,000 “good” quality grass pitches by 2030.

Coun Lynn said: “Our Active Calderdale mission is to support residents to lead more active lifestyles, to have a positive impact on their physical health and mental wellbeing.

“Playing sport is a great way to move more in our everyday lives, so we are committed to providing the best possible grass pitches across Calderdale.

“As part of this commitment, we applied to be involved in the Local Authority Grass Pitch Programme pilot run by the Premier League, the Football Association and the Government’s Football Foundation.

“We’re delighted to have been selected.

“The national pilot is to improve pitches that local people use, so we can now start to boost our community pitches throughout the borough.

“Following pitch assessments, we will agree an improvement plan with the FA and the Football Foundation, and that plan will then be funded through the national pilot.

“This could include support with maintenance, purchasing machinery and staff training to help our sports pitches to flourish and be enjoyed by people right across Calderdale,” she said.

She report to full council that the authority will be using the Football Foundation’s web app Pitch Power to baseline the condition of all the council’s grass pitch stock up to the end of March, and to help with this the foundation will pay for a support pitch advisor to train and support ground maintenance teams.

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