Sport wins for a change (From Wiltshire Times)

Sport wins for a change in Trowbridge

9:00am Saturday 18th August 2012 in Warminster

NEW changing room facilities and a car park for football teams will be built off Innox Road in Trowbridge after councillors voted not to develop the land for housing.

Sports clubs and councillors had been pushing for the vacant land, owned by Wiltshire Council, to house facilities for users of the nearby football field.

Wiltshire Council’s Capital Assets Committee voted on July 24 to install the changing rooms and create the 26-space car park, rather than seek to make it available for housing.

Cllr Jeff Osborne, Trowbridge town councillor and Wiltshire councillor for Trowbridge Grove, said: “I’m very pleased it’s gone through – it’s taken a lot of work behind the scenes.

“I think a lot of people in Trowbridge will benefit. If it was going to housing, there would be no end of opposition.

“It’s a success story but it’s been like that Greek myth, you have to push the stone up to the top of the hill.

“Trowbridge is woefully short of leisure facilities and nowadays, for proper football matches, you’ve got to have changing facilities.”

Just over £100,000 of funding is already in place with £50,000 available from Trowbridge Section 106 development contributions, £16,000 pledged by Trowbridge Town Council and £35,000 from the Football Foundation.

A modular changing room will be built with hot showers.

Chris Parker, under-10s coach at Trowbridge Town, said: “What we had a couple of years ago was just a couple of old sheds and they didn’t serve any purpose.

“We’ve not got a great deal, a rugby club and a small sports centre, and we need facilities for the community and our youngsters, who will want to stay and play for our teams.

“Anything to better our clubs will better the town as a whole. It’s great.”

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