Mid Suffolk Council major sports facility upgrade plans in Stowmarket win £500,000 bid
Major plans for sport facility upgrades in a town have won a £500,000 investment bid.
Earlier today, members of Mid Suffolk's cabinet met to discuss a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding bid of just over £497,000 to be invested into the council's Stowmarket, Health, Education and Leisure Facilities (SHELF) development project.
CIL funding is a money pot made up of payments legally required from developers of residential sites across the district which the council can use to invest in local services and facilities.
The overall development will replace outdated facilities near Stowmarket High School and Chilton Fields, including a state-of-the-art sports pavilion, a modern sports hall and a 3G artificial pitch, to encourage healthier lifestyles across the community.
Cllr Tim Weller, the authority's lead for wellbeing, said the project would help in delivering improvements in health outcomes.
He added: "We know it won't be just the fact that we've brought some new sporting facilities that are going to impact on that, it's going to be part of a wider story.
"The SHELF project is one of a number of initiatives the district council and the wider councils are pursuing to improve health outcomes for people — we know there's a cumulative effect."
The money was unanimously approved by cabinet members and will be used to buy and install new floodlights on the rugby pitch to enable use all year round, create a new all-weather active track facility and a new mini athletics track.
The overall project is being developed in cooperation with Suffolk County Council, Stowmarket Town Council, Stowmarket High School, local clubs, and other stakeholders.
The development is being delivered in three phases, starting with pitch improvements, a mini athletics circuit, a multi-use games area and walking trails.
Cllr Keith Scarff, who represents Stowmarket at town, district, and county levels, said it was exciting to see the plans progress and was happy to see a commitment to a community user agreement — this sets out ground rules for what clubs and users can expect.
He added: "I'm very supportive of the project, it's well overdue and I'm really pleased to see that the administration is bringing forward the first phase as well as the later ones.
"It's really important to take the community with you and it's a way of ensuring everyone gets a bite at the cherry of the new facility."
Cllr Weller said although the council could not give any detailed dates yet, he promised they would be shared publicly once the authority knew for a fact works could be delivered.
He added: "What we really want to see is that people are enjoying themselves, they're keeping fit, and they're able to be positive about new facilities which enhance their area and make them feel better about living in it whether they use the facilities or not."
The next phase would be the construction of a pavilion, sports hall, parking areas and play area while the final delivery phase would see the construction of a new wellbeing hub subject to reserved matters approval.
