AMBITIOUS plans to create a new £1m all-weather sports facility at the home of Burton Albion have been given the green light by planners.
East Staffordshire Borough Council has given approval for the new community facility which could now be ready for use in the autumn.
Burton Albion Community Trust is behind the project to build the artificial pitch, complete with changing rooms, at the Pirelli Stadium – and the project has already received a massive boost having secured nearly £850,000 from The Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund. Now the trust is launching a final push to raise the remaining funds needed to complete the development.
The site was earmarked for use by the Brewers as a training pitch when the stadium was built in 2005 but the first team squad currently uses the facilities at St George’s Park instead.
Now, Burton Albion Community Trust, the football club’s charity off-shoot, will create a much-needed new facility for the town of Burton.
The facility will enable BACT to greatly expand its own programme but also see many other sports organisations in the town have access to a new purpose-built site.
BACT’s head of community, Andy Taylor, said: “This is great news and we can now move forward with this exciting project.
“We have been working for more than 12 months with the Football Association, The Premier League and the Football Foundation as well as local partners to submit planning and funding applications to develop the 3G artificial grass pitch and now all that hard work is coming to fruition.
“We have secured £843,510 of the funding from the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund which is delivered by the Football Foundation.
“Through our local partners, we already have commitments from Trent and Dove, The Consolidated Charity of Burton and the East Staffordshire Borough Council Local Neighbourhood Development Fund as well as local businesses.We are now concentrating on securing the remaining funding by getting more partners on board. If all goes to plan, the facility could be up and running by September.”
Burton Albion chairman Ben Robinson said: “The football club’s focus has always been on the community and this facility will be a great asset for the people of Burton.
“It’s great that BACT has been able to gain access to this funding and now we have planning approval we can move on with delivering this brilliant project.”
Any business interested in supporting the pitch project can go to Just Giving at justgiving.com/bact or contact andy.taylor@burtonalbionfc.co.uk