Bradford Park Avenue submits plans for football academy at its grounds
4 June 2018
BRADFORD Park Avenue has revealed plans to build facilities for a sports academy at Horsfall Stadium that will hopefully train the next generation of star players.
A planning application submitted to Bradford Council for a new classroom at the site that will be used by the club’s football academy.
The application will also see the construction of a new club shop, new perimeter security fencing and a new spectator barrier.
The club set up its football academy in 2016 in partnership with Grange Technology College, and earlier this year announced that it intended to move the facilities closer to its grounds.
The sports college will be for male and female players, and the club hopes to have the facilities up and running by September.
Students will be able to complete BTEC sports courses at the academy.
The planning application is for two temporary, single storey modular buildings that will be located at the South West corner of the site, off Cemetery Road.
It is just the first stage in a major redevelopment of the grounds, which will also eventually include a new artificial turf pitch, improved vehicular access and car parking, athletic facilities and a jogging track and improved training pitches.
The application says: “The Football Academy was set up to help promising young footballers reach their potential in the game, whilst ensuring they attain BTEC Level 2 and 3 in Sport.”
When the club first announced its intention of building new academy facilities at its grounds earlier this year, Gareth Roberts, the club’s major benefactor, said: “It is a win-win as far as we are concerned. We are a community club and we need to get youngsters off the streets.
“We need to develop local players to assist with the future of the club. We will be starting a reserve team, and the academy players will have the chance to play alongside the first-team players.
“Our facilities are vastly under-used, and by developing Horsfall we believe we can provide Bradford with a valuable community asset and enable it to be used to the maximum for the youth of the city.”
A decision on the planning application is expected next month.
Source: thetelegraphandargus.co.uk
