Burgate School new sports pavilion plan welcomed as boost to Fordingbridge community

BURGATE School at Fordingbridge has won planning consent for a new sports pavilion to complement its new full-size 3G all-weather pitch with floodlights costing nearly £900,000.

The town council welcomed the proposal as a benefit to the town as well as to the Salisbury Road school and sixth form college.

The application was for a modular building measuring 22.1m by 12.2m to house new sports changing rooms, staff offices, equipment stores and activity room, plus associated parking.

Building work on the new pitch and floodlights immediately to the north of the proposed development is expected to get underway this month, and is hoped to be completed in February 2024.

With a total project cost of £896,755, the 3G pitch is being made possible thanks to a £601,255 grant from the Football Foundation, with additional funding from New Forest District Council, The Burgate School and Sixth Form, Fordingbridge Turks FC and Fordingbridge Rugby.

The new sports block, to be clad in timber with infill plastic panels, will provide two full-sized changing rooms for football and rugby union use, complete with showers and toilets. It will also provide referee changing facilities as well as other toilets, an office, plant rooms, and a 50-square metre activity multi-use area served by a small kitchen.

The application said; “The proposed building is well away from the main school, so it can have its own identity as a sports pavilion.”

District planners were told that a new community use agreement (CUA) for the sports facilities would have wide benefits, adding: “It is evident from the planning statement submitted that there are a significant number of football and rugby teams in Fordingbridge who would benefit from the ability to use the pitch for match play as well as training.

“In addition, Fordingbridge Rugby Club fully supports the new pitch as it will allow it to use the pitch for training and junior match play, given the inclusion of a shock pad within the new pitch surface.

“Added to that, the new CUA will also encourage other community usage by non-competitive clubs, younger and veteran age users, and those users with disabilities.

“The CUA includes the management of the pitch and setting up of a ‘sinking fund’ collected from payments made by users, such that monies will be available in the future for the maintenance and eventual replacement of the playing surface.

“The proposed new changing rooms pavilion will increase the likely use of the approved sports pitch and will significantly benefit the school and the local community in the evenings, weekends and during school holidays, thereby maximising the potential use of the all-weather pitch.”