Public to benefit from major upgrade of sports facilities at Lostock Hall school

Plans were submitted this week for a £300,000 scheme to revamp the outdoor activities at the town's academy in Todd Lane North.

It will not only boost sports provision for pupils, but also the general public who will use the new facilities more than the school.

The academy has been given a £200,000 grant from South Ribble Council to pay for the upgrade, along with a £100,000 interest free loan.

The existing hard-surfaced sports area will be split in two and resurfaced. One half will become a multi-Used games area (MUGA) with an artificial grass surface suitable for hockey, tennis and football.

The other half will be a hard-court area which can be used for league netball, basketball, football, tennis and other school activities.

For athletics the school will create a 113-metre long six-lane sprint straight and a separate long jump/triple jump runway.

And there could be even more with a full-size 3G football pitch on the school's wish list in the future.

“The partnership with - and financial input from - South Ribble Borough Council will enable us to bring these facilities to our students and wider community sooner than expected," said Gaynor Gorman, the academy principal.

“This comes at such a critical time as we return to life post pandemic. The last two years have been very difficult for our students and community.

"This facility will provide a boost to ensuring that every person in the Lostock Hall Academy community has access to, and benefits from, physical activity."

Under the deal with the council the Lostock Hall community will use the facilities for 60 per cent of the time they are open.

A report to the council's planning committee from specialist synthetic surfacing company NottsSport says the existing games facilities have been in use for more than 30 years.

"However the facilities now approach a period whereby repair works are required to restore their performance and extend their lifespan beyond that currently afforded," says the report.

"The school also seek to improve the old, outdated sports lighting system with modern LED luminaries to further control light spill and to provide a more environmentally friendly lighting solution, all whilst extending the lighting to both facilities where only one is lit at present.

"We propose to create athletics’ facilities over two sections of the playing fields to widen the scope of sports provisions which the school could provide for their pupils, as well as the local community.

"An enclosed spectator area has been designed to make use of excess space abutting the existing facilities.

"The proposed sports facilities have been designed to provide high quality performance for hockey, tennis, netball, and athletics.

"Their designs and constructions comply with National Governing Bodies (NGB) guidance documents. They could also serve to support wider recreational uses such as rounders, boot camps, and football training.

"The carefully designed solution would improve the sports curriculum for pupils and provide the local community with access to state of the art facilities outside of school hours.”

The facilities will be in use from 9am to 10pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 7pm on Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday.