CHESHIRE FA has reiterated its desire for the proposed new £70 million football complex to be available to all.

The plans detail a 3,000-capacity stadium, top quality 3G, grass and hybrid pitches, a 220-room five-star hotel, medical centre and higher education provision.

A location for the site is set to be announced around the turn of the year, with four west Cheshire options still thought to be on the table, one of which is brownfield.

A planning application could be submitted early in 2019, with an ambitious operational date of early 2021.

While it is hoped the site will become a centre of excellence for the women and girls’ game, there are also ambitions to provide facilities for international and club teams on visits to the north west.

At a Rotary Club meeting on Monday, Cheshire FA chief executive Steve Stewart and business and operations manager Stuart Manifould presented an update on the Vision 2020 project, which came about as a concept early in 2017.

Stuart said: “It’s a beast that has grown a lot of legs in the past 18 months or so.

“The plan is to try and put something together that not just safeguards grassroots football but also puts something new into the game.

“We don’t want to rely solely on a national framework, we want to also create our own vision. We want a world class football facility for all.

“It will be a centre of excellence for women because we feel that’s a central growth area, and we want to encourage that and break down those boundaries, but it’s for everyone.

“This is a site for disabled football, walking football, youth football, referees, coaches, everyone to develop.”

While most of the work will be focused on football, there is also a plan to set up a grants system to support other sports across the county.

As well as boosting footballing opportunity, the vision includes offering a chance to further skills in other sectors associated with the site.

This would include coaching and refereeing courses, as well as education opportunities for NHS-accessible sports medicine, grounds maintenance, hospitality, catering and more.

Steve added: “We felt we had outgrown what we were trying to do. We can’t do all that we want to do from Moss Farm.”

Cheshire FA is also in discussions to add a covered 3G pitch to the plans. If achieved, it would be the first in the UK available at a grassroots level.

The authority covers more than 3,300 teams, including 341 female teams and 98 disability teams. It estimates that 90,000 people in a variety of roles are involved in grassroots football in Cheshire each week.

Cheshire West and Chester Council and ION Developments are partners in the scheme.