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A run-down sports facility in Chorley is set to get a new pavilion which will mean football can once again be played on the site.
The Gillet Playing Fields in Heath Charnock were previously used for junior matches, but the ageing, substandard changing rooms have prevented games being played there for several years.
Chorley Council, which owns the plot – on Weavers Brow – is now poised to revamp the sporting offering at the location.
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The authority’s own independent planning committee has given the go-ahead to the demolition of the existing changing area and a disused garage, along with the removal of one of two shipping containers currently standing on the site..
The new single-storey pavilion to be built in their place – in the south western corner of the green space – will include new changing rooms, showers and toilets, a kitchen, social area, scorer’s room and separate facilities for match officials. The car park will be resurfaced and the current shower block turned into a maintenance store.
A report presented to the committee described the existing set-up as being in “a poor state of repair” and “not complying with modern standards for pavilion buildings”.
The changes will not affect the cricket ground on the site, which is leased to Chorley Cricket Club who use it for third team and junior matches.
Committee member Cllr Michelle Beach said the facilities needed “updating [and] modernising” – and added that the blueprint appeared to be an “excellent” proposal.
The greenbelt status of the land meant the scheme had to demonstrate “very special circumstances” in order for the development to be permitted. Principal council planning officer Iain Crossland said the cumulative benefits of the project were considered to meet that test.
In its capacity as the applicant behind the plans, the council had argued that the pavilion would have a “relative[ly] limited impact on greenbelt openness due to the modest scale of development” and would bring “wider community benefit”, Mr. Crossland said.
The meeting heard that the playing fields themselves would be unaffected by the new building – and the committee approved the proposal unanimously.
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