Bedfordshire Senior Cup winners Biggleswade Football Club are calling on two local authorities to progress their plea for a suitable ground in the town.
“We’ve been campaigning for seven years,” club manager Mark Inskip told Central Bedfordshire Council’s Biggleswade joint committee.
“The club was formed in 2016 and we’ve had more than 30 meetings with councillors, CBC and developers,” he explained.
“We’re up to 11 youth teams for boys and girls, and two men’s sides, one of these playing in Bedford, the other in Upper Caldecote, with the U18s at Ickwell.
“The leisure issue will only get progressively worse. It keeps people active and off the streets. As Biggleswade grows, leisure needs to keep pace.”
Club chairman Jeremy Reynolds said: “We’re champions of Bedfordshire. We’ve had tremendous success on the field at step four level.
“Now we’re engaged in building a club backwards, urgently aiming for a ground and a home of our own. It’s important to capture this jewel which you’ve got here.
“This can almost be a pioneer for what you want to do with wider recreational and leisure activities.”
Conservative Independent Biggleswade East councillor Grant Fage suggested: “There’s land east of Biggleswade and the opportunities presented there.
“But no requirement is contained in that Section 106 agreement to have the pavilion in place until 1,000 homes are occupied, so we’re years away from that.
“I’m looking to accelerate the conversation and consider other options. That was plan A, but we now need a much better plan B.
“I want to know how we can work together, given there’s money in the pipeline for leisure for the town, what the timelines are for deploying that and whether public works loan board money could play a role.
“Is there the potential for a CBC or a town council initiative or something shared? We’ve had conversations about conversations, but never had a decision.
“They’ve done brilliantly, given they’ve never had a facility where they’re taking the money behind the bar or through the turnstiles. A step four quality football pitch is needed to accommodate a coach, hardstanding for spectators, turnstiles and floodlights.
“There’s not much land left in Biggleswade, which isn’t developed already. The Kings Reach conversation is important, but it won’t solve the problem.”
Independent Biggleswade West councillor Hayley Whitaker said: “More training pitches are required for the football club and for those young people coming through the ranks.
“You’ve mentioned Stratton Upper School is getting its 3G pitch. Edward Peake Middle School is potentially getting a new pitch, although that’s half size, and we’ve the new Kings Reach pitches which have just been unfurled.
“We need to look at the whole CBC leisure strategy and not just one sport, feeding into that issues such as suitable space for the football club, a general demand for football pitches and a lack of netball courts. That’s how we get the funding, off the back of the strategy.”
The committee agreed to support a section about Biggleswade FC in CBC’s draft leisure strategy, asking for it to be urgently given due prominence and the right funding.
