New 5-lane cricket practice facility at West Park gets the green light despite residents’ concerns

Plans to build a new cricket practice facility at West Park in West Bridgford were approved at a Rushcliffe Borough Council planning committee meeting this week.

Concerns from residents whose Chestnut Grove properties back on to the park were heard at the meeting.

One resident said that the operating hours were a concern, the pitch will be open until 9 pm during the season and a figure of 900 balls an hour being bowled had been estimated. This was a concern because in warmer weather windows of nearby houses could be left open and small children would be going to bed for the night.

Other concerns were the orientation and size of the addition, and why five lanes were needed to replace the current two-lane pitch, will also benefits from being a lot further from the properties and is separated by a large fence.

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Despite this the committee voted 7 to 4 to approve and go ahead with the application which was submitted by the council itself.

West Park is a football and cricket ground off Loughborough Road in West Bridgford.

The land was purchased by Sir Julien Cahn in 1925 to provide a home ground and pavilion for his private cricket team. The Sir Julien Cahn pavilion was constructed in 1926 and the first recorded match on the ground was in 1928 when Sir J Cahn’s XI played the touring West Indies.

This land was sold after his death in 1944 to West Bridgford UDC ( urban district council ) which named it West Park but retained the cricket pavilion now known as Sir Julien Cahn Pavilion and the cricket pitch.

More recently Rushcliffe Borough Council constructed West Park Sports Pavilion in 2005 to provide a purpose-built modern facility to provide improved changing facilities to cricket users.

The development is the construction of cricket net and cage facility directly adjacent to this newer sports pavilion.

Rushcliffe Borough Council is the applicant and the landowner.

The new facility will replace the two existing cricket practice strips and open-ended mobile cages which are over 15 years old and at the end of their useful life. The nets will be constructed to the England and Wales Cricket Board Standard (ECB) and be completely enclosed by netting to ensure that balls remain within the cage structure.

The council says that when constructed the facility will increase the quality of training opportunities for all aspects of the game in Nottinghamshire, from the community level, all the way up to the regional level, with a particular focus on this site on the participation of women’s and girls in line with the ECB current five-year strategy for inspiring generations.

The facility will have linking accessible paths which lead directly to the car park and public toilets ensuring the DDA is accessible even when the sports Pavilion is closed. The nets will be lockable, and the proposals include improvement to the boundary fence to ensure compliance with the council’s Section 17 crime and disorder obligations.

The 1.5m high timber boundary fencing will comprise of overlap vertical boarding and kiln dried redwood posts.  This will improve the site boundary to this area and the overall security and boundary protection for West Park.

The plans are detailed as: Construction of a new cricket practice facility comprising of non-turf playing surface with associated new and framing together with associated ground preparation and landscaping works including soakaway and fencing.