A cricket pitch and facilities at West Park in West Bridgford could be leased to Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club for 25 years as part of plans to improve engagement with the sport.
The club, whose men’s team plays home matches at Trent Bridge cricket ground, would host women’s cricket matches at the park and the council hopes the deal would boost cricket opportunities across the region.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)’s latest strategy report says it aims to develop womens’ and girls’ cricket at every level with the “fundamental goal of making cricket a gender balanced sport”.
Under the lease, the cricket pitch at the park would host womens’ and girls’ cricket up to academy level, boys’ cricket up to U16 level and cricket programmes run by the club’s Community and Development team.
There’d also be mixed-gender teams for 5-8 year olds, 8-11 year olds, a disability cricket team for 12-28 year olds, and a programme aimed at African-Caribbean engagement in cricket.
An LGBTQ+ team would also use the park as a home base.
The pitch is currently already used by the amateur West Bridgford Legion cricket club, but NCCC has committed to entering an agreement with the club to ensure their current set-up at the park is not affected.
Council documents say that the offering the long-term lease to NCCC would retain the Legion as an “important community partner” while it would also “position Rushcliffe as the home of great sport”.
Casual weekday evening fixtures at the park would be moved to the nearby Gresham Park – which has recently benefited from an ECB grant for an artificial wicket – while those who use the pitch to walk their dogs would be encouraged to use “other local green space facilities that are nearby”.
Other benefits of the proposed agreement would include the site being in a stronger position to receive ECB grants and the West Bridgford Legion club being offered professional guidance in the management of the grass wicket.
The knowledge that Trent Bridge ground staff have would be “invaluable” to improving the West Park facilities, council documents say.
And under the agreement, some of the underutilised changing rooms at the Sir Julien Cahn pavilion would be reused for their intended purpose, having been used for storage.
The case for the lease reads: “The NCCC team is best placed to advance the game of cricket for the benefit of the entire community of Rushcliffe than the Council.”
The facilities at the park consist of the ten-wicket grass pitch with one artificial wicket, a five-laned practice area which is fully enclosed, and the sports pavilion with a club room and changing facilities.
NCCC would take responsibility for these, managing all the cricket bookings on site, the operation of the pavilion and cricket nets, and all utilities including electricity, gas and water.
As the landlord, the borough council would still pay for and undertake day-to-day management of the site including cleaning, maintenance and waste disposal.
There are also two tennis courts, a play area, a facilities office and a multi-use games area at the park, but these would remain the responsibility of Rushcliffe Borough Council if the lease is granted.
A decision is due to be made on the plans at the council’s Cabinet meeting on October 14.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the saleor sharing of your data, at any time clicking the "Do Not Sell or Share my Data" button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Privacy Notice.
West Bridgford cricket pitch plan to improve access to sport – Nottinghamshire Live
Related articles
