Trowbridge Town Football Club is ‘delighted’ to have been given £65,000 by the town council to install new floodlights at its Woodmarsh ground.
The money has come from developers of local housing estates who have made infrastructure levy contributions to support community projects under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Wiltshire Council, the planning authority, and Trowbridge Town Council, which administers the funds, reached an agreement for the use of the cash which was approved during a Trowbridge Town Council meeting.
Trowbridge Town FC – known as ‘The Bees’ - hopes it will also secure funding from the Section 106 contributions to install a new drainage system for which it is about to seek planning permission.
Trowbridge Town FC chairman Andy Meaden, said: “This is a great day for The Bees.
“These facilities will mean we can get promoted and get back to where we belong – unlike in 2023, when we were Wiltshire Senior League Premier Division Champions but could not go up due to the lack of lights and other features.
“Now we will have a ground worthy of the County Town’s main football club and we can start to progress back to higher leagues.
“A big thank you to Wiltshire Council and Trowbridge Town Council for judging our ground and our club as a good investment. We will make it count.”
Trowbridge Town FC has a 125-year history that includes competing in the Football Conference and Southern League at its peak in the 1980s. In the late 1990s, its town centre ground was sold, and the club was relaunched after a one-year hiatus at Woodmarsh.
The first team plays in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League which is at ‘Step 7’ of the FA ladder. That is below Bradford on Avon Town, Warminster Town and Devizes Town at Step 6, Corsham Town at Step 5, Melksham Town and Westbury United at Step 4 and Chippenham Town at Step 2.
The club set out to raise money for the various projects required to bring Woodmarsh up to standard, after its planning application for floodlights was approved in May.
Mr Meaden added: “The money we have already raised, around £30,000, will be used towards other improvements we need to make at Woodmarsh to upgrade the ground including work on the clubhouse, stands, dugouts and hardstanding for spectators.”
“The club would like to thank everyone, from local businesses to local people and supporters for their generosity.”
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