News update 21/06/18
West Berks Council announce change of use of Faraday Road after Newbury FC’s departure on 24/06/18 reducing it from Newbury’s premier football ground to a “recreational kickabout park” (and they need 3 months to prepare it!)
Read WBC’s press release here
Read Newbury Today’s article here
Read Newbury Reporting’s article here
This is a cynical and outrageous ploy to demote the ground’s status at odds with their local plan policy (i.e. protected as a football ground) and it clearly flies in the face of the need to maintain the land as an equivalent facility, flouting the Asset of Community Value status. It ignores the petition and representations made by NCFG and others to help run and maintain the ground as is. In short, it fails to reflect demand for a high quality pitch and doesn’t understand the requirements of the organised footballing community. It seems that the council is trying to change the land-use through a covert and devious route so as to diminish its value to make future redevelopment easier.
There is absolutely no need to have prematurely removed Newbury FC (as club or operator) which has caused damage to the club (moving to Brimpton FC where there are no floodlights) and their partner football clubs (represented by NCFG).
Why does WBC need 2-3 months over the summer to inspect the site when it was already fine to be used for football up until now? It’s not like they’ve had no time to prepare for this.
The council’s opposition to football in Newbury and consequent demotion of the town’s men’s senior team, will undoubtedly cause youngsters looking for a pathway to adult football to be far less incentivised to participate.
