North-East News
School gets its all-weather pitch
10:55am Tuesday 7th September 2010
PLANNING permission has finally been granted for an all-weather sports pitch after four years of work by school and community leaders.
A multi-use games area (muga) will be built at the Wensleydale School, in Leyburn.
The floodlit pitch will replace an existing clay surfaced pitch near the main school building.
It will be used for hockey, football and tag rugby in the winter.
In the summer, games such as rounders, cricket, tennis and softball will be played on the muga. It will be available for use by the local community, as well as the secondary school.
The proposed hours of use are from 8am until 9pm on weekdays, 8am until 6pm on Saturdays and 9am until 6pm on Sundays.
The scheme has been beset with problems.
These have included objections from residents and planning officials about the potential for noise and anti-social behaviour.
These objections led to a previous application to be refused by North Yorkshire County Council.
In the resubmitted application approved last week by councillors at county hall in Northallerton, the pitch was moved further away from houses in Springfield Close and Rumford Way.
The scheme was also delayed after rare bats were discovered. This held up building work on an extended learning centre, which in turn prevented the school making progress on the floodlit facility.
Commenting on the planning approval, Lee Wasden, head of PE at the school, said: “This is fantastic news for the school and community.
“It’s taken lots of people many hours of hard work and hopefully the facility will be a testament to their efforts.”
He said the students and people of Wensleydale deserved the best facilities.
“This will be a step in the right direction,” he added.
Jo-Anne Simpson, culture and well-being delivery manager at Richmondshire District Council, said the council, together with Richmondshire Community Sports Network, had been working with the school over recent years to increase the opportunities for people to access sporting activities.
She added: “The success of the planning application for a multi-use games area was fantastic news for the school and the wider community and will provide a valuable sporting resource for the district.”
“This has been made possible due to the hard work and determination of everyone involved.”