123-year-old Bloxwich sports club objects to park plans over ‘false promises’
A sports club has objected to bold plans of transforming a Bloxwich park after it was ‘falsely promised’ a dedicated sports pitch.
Bloxwich Hockey Club said it was ‘led down a path’ by Walsall Council over plans to level up King George V Playing Fields.
The club, founded in 1903, was based at the Stafford Road park until England Hockey introduced a requirement for artificial turf to be used for league games.
An arrangement was made with Walsall Council for the club to use the artificial turf pitch at Sneyd School on Vernon Way where the players trained three days a week.
But in 2021, the artificial turf was assessed as requiring resurfacing works.
Chair of the club, Katie Yeoman, said the club was notified that the Sneyd pitch wasn’t going to be resurfaced, and instead a multi-use pitch would be created at King George V Playing Fields.
But she claims the proposed pitch will only be able to accommodate football, rather than a specific Gen 2 surface used for multiple sports including hockey.
She said: “It appears that the plans for an artificial surface on King George’s Playing Fields is for football only. There are already many facilities in the borough that can be used for football.
“The difference between a football-only pitch and a multi-sport artificial surface is the top two layers. If the surface was Gen 2, hockey, tennis, rugby, football and netball can be played on the pitch.”
Plans for the transformation of King George V Playing Fields will be brought before Walsall Council’s planning committee on Thursday, February 12.
The plans have been recommended for approval, despite 29 objections, the majority of which from members of the public associated with Bloxwich Hockey Club.
Katie added: “Over the last six years Bloxwich Hockey Club has visited many schools within our community, introducing kids to the sport which has culminated in a huge growth of the junior section, now boasting 150 kids.
“This is an area that is struggling with one of the highest obesity rates in the country.
“The club’s success means we now boast five men’s teams, five ladies teams, two mixed hockey teams and age playing teams from under 18s to under eights.
“But for the past five years the stalling factor to our success and growth has been the state of our pitch at Sneyd. I have worked tirelessly trying to address this and gained support of MPs.
“We were led down a path that the Sneyd pitch wasn’t going to be resurfaced, but a new pitch would be provided at King Georges Playing Fields under the levelling up scheme.”
Walsall Council has been approached for comment.
