Joy for soccer club - but not residents (From Echo)

Joy for soccer club - but not residents

2:01pm Thursday 6th December 2007 in News By Jon Austin

A FOOTBALL club is celebrating plans to move into a new £1.5million home - while residents commiserate the loss of open space.

Wickford Town Football Club has been given permission to turn its Southend Road ground into 50 new houses.

This will help fund a new 35 acre base at Shot Farm, near the A129, Southend Road.

The club - which has 1,200 members in total - will develop 14 football pitches, changing rooms, floodlights, a police hut, parking and a new road on the proposed site.

The club's secretary, Richard Neville, welcomed the relocation news.

He said: "We are del-ighted. This really will benefit the whole community with greatly improved football facilities.

"It is the largest privately-funded initiative of its kind in the district and will become a showpiece for the district to be proud of.

"We are not talking about the loss of one pitch, but the creation of 14 new football playing areas and much more besides."

Residents who overlook the existing ground and use it for walking their dogs are devastated they will have a housing estate built next to them.

Sally Taylor, 30, was far from happy about the proposed development.

She said: "It is such a shame to turn an open space enjoyed by residents for years into a Toy Town of bricks and mortar - now it will be gone forever.

"There will also be an increase in traffic, noise and pollution levels."

Lynda Gordon, Labour councillor for Lee Chapel North, said allowing building on land designated as open space was a dangerous precedent, which could lead to similar applications being lodged in the future.

But Ann Blake, a Tory councillor for Pitsea South East, did not agree with her rival.

She said: "The other application, which will be of great benefit to the community, cannot go ahead without this.

"The club has outgrown its existing ground and needs to expand."

The plans were approved by four votes to two.