The new “White Rose” football pavilion and associated pitches have now been completed. They can’t be brought into use until agreed improvements on the adjacent cycle path – which is a York Council maintenance responsibility – are also completed.
The cycle path upgrade was a condition of the planning approval given on 16th November 2018. (click)
Elsewhere we are waiting to hear whether SUSTRANs was successful in its grant application to the government for funding to resurface the track near Riccall and the A64.
Work on filling and levelling the Escrick sidings site appears to be proceeding more quickly now.
The plan to provide football pitches and a clubhouse for use by the Bishopthorpe football team on land off Sim Balk Lane was approved in June 2019.
Budget agreed in 2019
It wascontroversial as the Council agreed to contribute £850,000 towards the £1.5 million scheme, claiming that it would compensate for the loss of open space at Lowfields.
Residents were quick to point out the new pitches were 3 miles from Lowfields and that there wasn’t even a public transport link between the two areas.
Others commented that the clubhouse design seemed to be at the luxury end of the market.
One a more positive note, much improvements to the adjacent cycle path were promised as part of the project (they have not yet materialised)
It was agreed that the new facilities would be completed before the first homes at Lowfields were occupied.
Pavilion site last year
Now a Council report says that the delayed Bishopthorpe scheme is running £303,000 over budget. The costs of providing services to the pavilion are blamed for the increase.
The Council is now showing a contribution towards the project of £1,052,000 in its revised budget for this year.
The report says that “£190k of additional funding has been identified to date, but this is not sufficient to cover the entire cost increase and the team is working to identify further funding to cover the remaining £113k overspend”.
No further details, an updated budget or completion timetable have been published.
The site of new football pitches off Sim Balk Lane has been cleared. The will be used by a team from Bishopthorpe.
The cost of constructing a new “pavilion” at the football pitches near London Bridge has been questioned. It is claimed that the cost of providing 13 pitches plus changing rooms near London Bridge will be £1.5 million.
This compares to the £600,000 cost of providing of a modern changing room & clubhouse recently for the Hamilton Panthers team on Little Knavesmire.
The York Council has been asked to contribute £850,000 to the Bishopthorpe scheme with the rest coming mainly from the Football Foundation and fundraising.
Most of the £850,000 is being abstracted from the Westfield Ward.
Officials claim it is a substitute for the pitches lost at Lowfield which are now being built on.
NB. There has still been no progress on replacing the children’s all weather sports area which was a valued amenity in the Kingsway West area. The Council took the games area over as a building compound over 3 months ago, promising that alternative facilities would be provided.
The promised replacement isn’t event mentioned in the Council’s 4 monthly forward programme of upcoming decisions
The York Council courted controversy 2 years ago when it announced that the “replacement” football pitches – for those lost to the Lowfields development – would be provided on a site lying between Tadcaster Road and Bishopthorpe.
Playing fields at Lowfields have been dug up
The site is nearly 3 miles from Lowfield and does not have a direct public transport link.
In December 2017, the Councils Executive approved a £400,000 contribution from the Lowfields budget towards the Bishopthorpe plan. The project will provide a new home for the Bishopthorpe White Rose Football Club.
The new pitches must be ready before the new homes, being built at Lowfields, are occupied. Work on building the homes is due to start in August with road and some other infrastructure already in place.
Now a report to a meeting taking place next week reveals that the Council is to make a substantially greater contribution to the pitch project than has hitherto been admitted.
The Council will now, additionally, contribute £110,000 from Section 106 developer payments intended to provide alternative open space.
A further £300,000 will come from a “Lowfields developer contribution”. (The Council is, of course, the developer at Lowfields).
In total, therefore, the Council plans to spend around £850,000 on the scheme which, although it includes a clubhouse, now looks to be a very expensive way of providing 3 football pitches.
The Bishopthorpe football club itself will contribute £80,000, with the balance of £1/2 million coming from the Football Foundation.
Residents are bound to be angry about this latest example of
Council duplicity.
There is land available much nearer Lowfields which would benefit from open space investment. There is, for example, under-used land located between the built-up area and the ring road off Askham Lane.
…But this seems to have been overlooked as the local authority continues to snub the Westfield area.
NB. It also appears that Council officials have made no progress in finding an alternative location for the Kingsway games area. That facility is now being used as a building compound. The Council agreed 3 months ago to seek an alternative site on a nearby sports area and was to have opened negotiations with the current occupiers. Little progress seems to have been made
