WESTBURY’S Cricket Club has ambitious plans which they say will benefit the whole community, if they can get a 25-year lease of their ground at Leighton Recreation Centre.
The club has approached Westbury Town Council to look into a potential ‘asset transfer’ of the ground from Wiltshire Council who own the land. The club is hoping that if it secures a 25-year lease, it can eventually open the ground up for use by other sports clubs as a ‘community sports complex’, as well as looking at ways to increase residents’ engagement with the cricket club site.
James Mawson, chair of Westbury Cricket Club says, “The main point from the club’s point of view is that we want to open the space up at Leighton Ground so more people can access and enjoy the area, whether its walking or encouraging other sports to make use of the space.
“If you look back at the history of Leighton, there used to be rugby, tennis and football played there regularly and unfortunately all those clubs have gone away over the years.
“This move isn’t just a thing that will benefit the club, but the town as a whole as well. The long-term plan for the area is that is becomes a hub for other sports. The hope is that residents would use the ground to play football in the winter and tennis and cricket in the summer, something like that, so the ground would have a use right throughout the year.”
James explained, “The reason we approached Westbury Town Council for an asset transfer is due to the fact that we can apply for a multitude of grants to help improve the ground, but these can only be applied for when we secure a lease.
“We’ve always had a great relationship with Westbury Town Council and Wiltshire Council – I need to stress that they’ve been nothing but helpful in the past. Hopefully they can see that we just want to provide a safe space that the people of Westbury can be proud of, with good facilities, that can help promote more involvement in participatory sport, particularly cricket, in the town and wider area. How we achieve these goals, well we are pretty flexible.
“We are ready to invest. We think we can make the playing fields better for a wider range of people, but that requires a clear understanding that we can’t get grants if we don’t have a lease. We can’t get a lease unless the town agrees to an asset transfer. Once we have established a 25-year lease, we can go to the English Cricket Board (ECB) or we could approach other grant funders and ask for money so we can improve the facilities.
“We want to put up a fence and protect the ground, plant flowers and trees and make sure the ground is properly accessible so we can improve the overall experience for users and visitors of the ground. We want this to become a place that people are proud of and want to visit.
“It’s not a great look for us when visitors come to play us and they have to get changed in a field. We really want to make the area a priority as it feels like it’s been left behind.
“We have been unable to recruit players or retain players because the facilities are not up to scratch. Look at grounds like Melksham, Chippenham and Calne – they have a proper ground with a clubhouse.”
As part of their ambitious plans, the club is also looking at the possibility of constructing a pavilion with funding from the ECB as a way to enhance the current facilities and increase the reputation of the club and town. There is currently an issue with accessing the changing rooms in the sports centre as it shuts at 2pm.
James added, “The pavilion is a great idea but it’s just that, an idea. If we find that through the potential asset transfer that we can have full access to the sports centre for changing, then we may not go down that route. If we can find a way to solve our issues in the short term without construction, then of course we will look at that. We are trying to be sensible with the investment.
“Cricket has been played in Westbury for nearly 250 years and at that ground for 75 years. We want to keep that long tradition alive and we want to support the club and get as many people involved with playing cricket as possible, young and old, women and children alike.”
Correction
In our last issue, we said the town council has provisionally agreed to take over the green space at Leighton Recreation Centre. The town council have agreed to actively work with Wiltshire Council to investigate the possibility of the green space transferring to the town council but haven’t yet agreed the take over.
