A NEW multi-million state-of-the-art hockey centre has been backed by the city council after it agreed to loan £2.1 million for it to be built.

Worcester City Council agreed to lease land on the Old Porcelain Ground, off Droitwich Road, to give RGS and Worcester Hockey Club the opportunity to transform it into an international standard facility.

The city council has also agreed to loan £2.1 million to cover the cost of building the hockey centre with an opening planned for September 2020.

The facility would also provide Worcester Hockey Club, which boasts around 500 members, a permanent home.

Councillor Marc Bayliss, leader of the city council, said he was “disappointed” the University of Worcester was not contributing any money to help build the centre, when speaking at the council’s policy and resources committee on Tuesday (June 4).

He said the university had a reputation of sporting excellence and had attracted people to the city on that basis.

Cllr Bayliss said with a surplus of £8.7 million last year, it was not “unreasonable” for the university to “put their money where their mouth is.”

He said that the facility and leasing the land to RGS and Worcester Hockey Club at a low rent was acceptable but he was concerned by the financial risk of borrowing public money to invest in a sporting facility.

Cllr Bayliss said: “Yes there are some guarantees that are provided but we are still mortgaging Worcester taxpayer’s future for a £2.1 million loan.

“I think there is a principle here as well which I think we should enter carefully about funding sporting institutions and using taxpayer pounds in order to do that.”

The University of Worcester, whose pitches are currently used by Worcester Hockey Club but regularly flood and would need a major refurbishment within the next two years, had already expressed an interest in using the new facility regularly.

Hockey pitches at Nunnery Wood would also need to be resurfaced in the next two years to bring them up to a national standard and moving to the new hockey facility would also free up space for the already over-subscribed football pitches.

The international standard pitches would allow Worcester to rival other university cities - including Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Durham - who make up a significant part of England Hockey’s National League.

Cllr Jabba Riaz said the centre would be the “jewel in the crown of the city” and hoped it could be used by international teams during the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.