Plan for £1.25m pitch and floodlights outlined
BBCA £1.25m plan for a 3G synthetic pitch and floodlights at a sports ground will "encourage more football activity", a council has said.
West Berkshire Council wants to replace the current playing surface at Faraday Road in Newbury with the 3G pitch in a proposal it hopes will generate £70,000 profit a year.
Football returned to the ground in November 2023 after a complex there was destroyed by a fire in August 2021.
A public consultation on the plan to replace the pitch and to build floodlighting and fencing at the site will end on Friday, ahead of potential planning permission being granted.
HFRSNewbury FC returned to Faraday Road in November 2024 after the club was evicted by West Berkshire Council in 2018 in a row over the site's potential redevelopment.
Planning documents submitted on behalf of the authority state that the project, once approved, "offers excellent outcomes...and has the power to contribute positively to vital social and health priorities."
The council proposes the pitch would be used from between 08:00 and 22:00, Monday to Friday, and between 08:00 and 20:00 at weekends.
Nigel Foot, the council's portfolio holder for leisure, said in September: "Heavy rain can lead to the grass surface needing to be handled with care and not to be over-played, while exceptionally dry weather...can mean the playing surface is so hard, it is unsafe for matches."
