Sports club ‘indebted’ to council for helping to fund new astro sports pitch for hockey club in Towcester

Towcestrians wants to build a new astro pitch for its hockey club

The £600,000 astro pitch is set to be built at Towcestrians Sports Club’s home in Greens Norton Road as part of an overall redevelopment of the site which will also include a new cricket pitch and a new car park for 250 cars.

A planning application was submitted earlier this month to the council, and is due to be determined in the next couple of months. Towcestrians say that the council has already indicated it will support the plans.

And the project was further boosted as South Northamptonshire Council’s cabinet agreed last week (February 10) to award a £240,000 grant to the club to help build the astro pitch.

The grant was approved during a meeting at The Forum in Towcester

The club has also secured a grant of £250,000 from the London Marathon Charitable Trust (LMCT), which helped it purchase the new land, with the remaining funding set to come through grants from Sports England and the Hockey Foundation.

Towcestrians – which is a multi-sport club also offering rugby, tennis and netball – would use the pitch for hockey in the evenings and weekends, with the facility available for community use and schools on daytime weekdays.

It would also offer a home for the girls and senior ladies’ teams – who currently play at Northampton High School – and would potentially open the door to new teams for boys and senior men which is not possible at the moment. Hiring the pitches in Northampton costs the club £7,000 per year.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, finance portfolio holder Councillor Peter Rawlinson said: “There’s no such facility in South Northamptonshire so currently they have to travel to Northampton. It will have a community use for lower socio-economic groups as well.”

As well as hockey, the astro pitch would be used for 5-a-side football, touch rugby, netball training, walking sports and disability sports.

The funding was welcomed by Towcestrians, with its chairman Frank Osborne saying: “After a gap of over 20 years we can welcome back our ladies’ hockey section to its true home here at Greens Norton Road.

“We are indebted to South Northamptonshire Council and LMCT for their generosity and support in bringing this fantastic facility to Towcestrians.

“Work in constructing the pitch will start, weather permitting, in early April. With a 12-week build plan we hope to have it operational by the end of the summer.

“I am especially proud of all my fellow Towcestrians who have worked tirelessly and never given up in their efforts to finally be bringing hockey home.”