Work gets underway on £1.3m sport pitch investment at Frickley Country Park

Wakefield Council has provided the funding to South Elmsall Town Council after it made a successful application through the Council’s Capital Programme to replace a grass pitch with a new facility in Frickley Country Park.

Work has started on the floodlit 3G football pitch, that will increase facilities for training and matches for children’s and community football teams in the area.

Coun Michael Graham, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “It’s great to see this exciting work getting underway to support community football, which is really popular with children and adults with as many as 108 teams in the south-east area alone.

“South Elmsall Town Council put in a lot of hard work to create a clear and compelling application for funding, and we are really proud to be working with them and supporting the local community with this new facility that will benefit many people in the years to come. Once open it will be accessible to a range of community groups, schools and local football clubs.”

Coun Steve Tulley, Chair of South Elmsall Town Council, said: “We are very pleased to see the project getting underway and this is a very positive news for many people – both adults and children, who will benefit from this fantastic new facility.”

The all-weather pitch will support year-round sports participation, giving people opportunities to take part in community football and training. Currently there are in excess of 150 junior footballers using the grass pitches each week, the hope is that the new 3G pitch will allow this to increase to 350 young people a week.

Other features of the development will include safety fencing, floodlighting and an office and first aid facility

The work is expected to take 18 weeks and to be completed by mid-June.

The council has also been working with the Football Association to encourage local people to participate in the sport.

This is as part of The Council’s Wakefield Playing Pitch strategy that encourages investment and sports development programmes in the district. It also promotes opportunities for residents to get involved to support their physical activity and experience the wider health and well-being benefits.