A MOVE to build an £800,000 artificial pitch next to a city leisure centre looks set to take another step forward.

Worcester City Council is looking to build the new all-weather 3G pitch at Perdiswell Leisure Centre and councillors are being asked to sign off the council’s share of the work and begin the wait for an answer on critical government money.

Although councillors are being asked to back the work now, it could still be quite a while before any artificial grass is laid with a decision on whether the new pitches will receive government funding not being made until January next year.

At the moment, the council expects the new pitch to be open by October 2024.

There is little chance the Football Foundation, the charity in charge of handing out government and FA money to grassroots football and which is expected to agree to fund 80 per cent of Worcester’s much-needed 3G pitch, will turn down the city council, with the lack of artificial pitches highlighted in a review of Worcester’s sports facilities by the very same body.

The same ‘top-tier’ projects which the funding body also sees as essential, as is the case with a 3G pitch at Perdiswell, are usually given the appropriate backing. 

Councillors approved a move to put £200,000 towards the project almost 12 months ago but there has been little public discussion since.

The idea of artificial pitches at Perdiswell was first revealed publicly more than five years ago when councillors agreed to set aside £25,000 for a study into a potential new facility alongside a new futsal pitch.

The studies were not carried out for another 18 months and even then, a potential new pitch was put completely on the back burner with the council deciding to ‘focus on other developments.’

At the same time, the Football Foundation, which is one of the bodies in charge of handing out government sports funding, published a review on sports facilities in Worcester and highlighted a need for more artificial and smaller-sided pitches.

The move was further delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and with ever-rising costs, councillors were again asked to judge whether building the new football pitches was still possible.

It turned out that both schemes were still viable, in the opinion of the council, but the artificial pitch relied on the bulk of the money being provided by the Football Foundation, support that comes with its own stipulations - largely that all profits are pumped back into running and improving the pitches.

The council said the 3G pitch would cost around £97,500 to run with the expected income at around £100,000 - leaving just a £2,500 surplus.

Councillors again green-lighted the move and the project was last left with £200,000 ‘in principle’ when it was last discussed in June last year.

The city council’s communities committee meets in the Guildhall on June 7 to discuss the report.