Unanimous go-ahead granted for Croston Sports Club overhaul
Floodlit football and tennis will be enabled by the project, which will also see a cricket pavilion and padel building introduced to the Lancashire facility.
In all, the first item on Chorley Council’s October planning docket covers a series of interventions to support the expansion of Croston Sports Club’s facilities off Westhead Road in Leyland.
They are: a floodlit grass playing pitch, football pavilion building, cricket pavilion building, padel court building, tennis court with floodlighting, car park, boules court relocation, vehicular access and associated infrastructure.
SWA is advising.
As set out in the planning officer report, the application site comprises grassed pasture land located in the settlement area of Croston within a central area of the village.
There is residential development to the north, south and east, with existing sports pitches and supporting facilities to the west that comprise the cricket, football, tennis and boules areas already run by Croston Sports Club.
Currently, the club operates from a single-story building at the site.
In a general sense, the character of the area is described as urban, although the village is surrounded by agricultural land and is distinctly separate from other settlements. The site is allocated for new open space, sport and recreational facilities under policy HW1 of the Chorley Local Plan 2012 – 2026.
Access would come from Westhead Road to the south, with the main car park accessed immediately from this. Beyond this would be the padel building – the project’s largest, at around 11,000 sq ft – and the football pavilion. The two-storey cricket pavilion would be situated further into the site to the rear of the existing sports club building. There would be an area of landscaping between the car park and Westhead Road.
In terms of lighting, the tennis courts would have 10 lighting columns reaching 8m in height, while the football pitch would have six 15m-tall lighting columns. The car park and access ways would have shorter lighting columns.
Letters of support outnumbered those objecting. No objections were lodged by statutory consultees or the parish council.
Documents relating to the project can be seen on Chorley Council’s planning portal, reference 26/00430/FULMAJ.
