Moss Farm: Another chance, so let’s try to make most of it

Northwich Rugby Club chairman Sam Naylor told the Guardian he hopes an announcement by landowners Cheshire West and Chester Council that it intends to install a 3G playing surface will be the catalyst for further improvements to the outdoor sports complex.

Blacks players, both young and old, will use the new, floodlit pitch for training once it has been built.

“It’s positive news, of course it is,” he said.

“I’ve been banging on for years to anybody who cared to listen that Moss Farm and Hartford campus have been in desperate need of redevelopment.

“But we’d like to see this kick-start a longer-term process. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

Last year council bosses confirmed that an overhaul of Moss Farm was on hold until 2015.

In the meantime, they invited clubs based at the site to contribute to a consultation on what will happen there once the swimming pool closes.

Mike Dix, a senior manager for leisure at the authority, said the council had no money set aside in its capital budget to pay for improvements.

He added: “We can’t promise motherhood and apple pie, but we are committed to making Moss Farm an exemplar site.”

The Moss Farm user group, of which the rugby club is a part, submitted to the council in June a document listing what they believe should be the priorities for investment.

Naylor said: “We are well past a deadline set by the council itself to move on this piece of work.

“It is little more than a year now before the pool at Moss Farm closes and the new one in Northwich town centre opens, so what is going to happen?

“We acknowledge that local authorities don’t have much money to spend at the moment, so they need help from other sources.

“That is perhaps where the user group could come into its own.

“We’re passionate about the place, and would love other sports or clubs to be based there alongside those that already are.”

Simon Gerrard, chief executive of Cheshire FA, will spend the next few weeks working out when – and how often – football and rugby teams might be able to use the new pitch.

As it will be floodlit, a planning application will follow further discussions between those affected most by the proposal.

Talks have already taken place with some junior football clubs.

CRICKETERS say Moss Farm could be transformed if clubs and teams who use the outdoor sport complex work closely together.

Northwich Cricket Club spokesman Simon James told the Guardian that a blueprint to redevelop the site as a whole should be the next step following an announcement by landowners Cheshire West and Chester Council that £500,000 could be spent on a new 3G pitch there.

“Moss Farm has massive potential,” he said.

“For the kids of the town to have a kind of community sports hub to visit would be fantastic, and we shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture.

“As users, that’s what we’d love to see down here.”

He urged the council to come up with a plan for what it intends to do with the swimming pool building once Memorial Court opens in the town centre the year after next.

“I’d hate to see it just boarded up,” he added.

A NEW all-weather pitch at Moss Farm could create for hockey players more opportunities to practice on the existing one.

Winnington Park men’s and ladies’ teams host opponents on match day at the Winnington sports complex, though they have to train at other venues as a small-sided football league uses the same space every evening.

Clr Stuart Parker, executive group member for culture at Cheshire West and Chester Council, said he hopes a new 3G pitch will make for a less busy timetable elsewhere on the site.

“We hope he’s right,” said Mark Kueres, hockey club secretary.

“Of course we’re pleased at the news there will be investment at Moss Farm as we feel it will be of great benefit to the community.

“We’re always looking to increase our capacity for training throughout the season, so it would help if the new 3G pitch frees up space on the current all-weather one on week nights.”