Sports club rejects new home proposal
MULTI-MILLION pound plans to build a new home for Ashby Road Sports Club have been rejected by its members.
An unnamed homebuilder offered to construct a £3.75 million clubhouse just 500m from the current site at the junction of Ashby Road and Normandy Way in Hinckley.
Club chairman David Fletcher said the new, eco-friendly facility would be “far superior” and would come with twice the amount of land, allowing separate cricket and football pitches to be built.
The club would also be given £250,000 to help maintain the new site once completed.
In exchange, the property developer would be free to build new homes on the land if it could get planning permission from Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.
Bosses at Ashby Road had encouraged their members to back the proposal.
A letter sent to residents said: “The new facility will be far superior in content and build to our current building and sit on twice the amount of land, enabling separate cricket and football pitches, solving our current problem where football home games can’t be played in the cricket season.
“There will also be enough spare land to develop other sporting activities as required.
“This will give us the opportu- nity to offer better facilities to all our sports reams, to improve the function suites, to offer in-house catering and to have a property which is economically viable to run.
“On top of the new premises and developed sports facilities, the developers will place the sum of £250,000 in our bank upon completion. This will give us the capital to support the ongoing development of such a large, multi-functional site.
“Given the state of our current premises and the amount of time, effort and money it takes just to break even, the management board, committee and trustees are recommending that the members support the motion and accept this offer.”
But the plans were turned down by fewer than 10 votes at a meeting on Sunday (March 12).
Mr Fletcher said he was pleased to see more than 200 members have their say over the future of the club.
He added: “The club is currently trading well and is financially sound. It’s an old building, we’ve been here almost 60 years, and the cost of repair is high, but at the current time we still manage to keep on top of everything and still make a profit.”
One member, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “I’m so glad we turned it down. Hinckley doesn’t need more homes, especially on Ashby Road, the traffic is bad enough at the moment.
“The whole thing just didn’t sit right with me so I’m pleased we’re staying put.”