10:20am Tuesday 20th March 2012
AMBITIOUS plans to build £1.5 million worth of community facilities at North Baddesley will be unveiled at a public meeting this week.
Parish council chairman David Knight will describe his dream to enlarge the current pavilion in Sandy Lane and surround it with state-of-the-art floodlit sports and leisure facilities.
Mr Knight said he was confident the scheme can be largely funded by grants.
“We know the money is there. There’s the lottery and various trust funds. Now we have to get the community behind us,” he said.
“With hard and smart work North Baddesley Parish can have one of the best facilities in Hampshire.”
The parish council plans to add a two-storey extension to the pavilion. This will enlarge the area currently used by the youth club and will include a stage, complete with lighting and sound system, which will be available for community music and drama events.
One of the pavilion’s five changing rooms will be converted into a recording studio for use by the community.
The kitchen area will be upgraded so a larger pavilion could cater for functions such as wedding receptions.
Outside, the existing skateboard park will be doubled in size and improved.
The Multi Use Games Area will be extended to include an all-weather seven-a-side football pitch plus a separate area for basketball and netball.
A children’s play area and an outdoor gym and trim trail for adults will also be added.
On the other side of Sandy Lane from the pavilion an area once used for cricket will again play host to the game in summer but will also be home to two football pitches in the winter.
Mr Knight said drainage work would be carried to make this possible.
He told the Advertiser that the council already had a cricket club interested in playing at Baddesley. He added that more football facilities were also needed as Baddesley Park junior football club was growing and already had more than 180 members.
The number of tennis courts will be doubled to four, and may have floodlights, and cricket nets could also be erected.
The meeting to discuss the plans will be held at the pavilion on Thursday (March 22) at 7.30pm.
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