Hockey Pitch Rationale

Hockey pitch – rationale

The problem:

We are looking at laying down a synthetic, county-standard pitch for hockey at the school.

The initial plan was to lay the new surface on the existing (unusable) all-weather pitch (red spot on the sketch). Having looked at the overall design and likely cost we are now planning to lay the new pitch on the existing (lower) football pitch (blue spot on the sketch).

The rationale:

If we put the new pitch on the existing all-weather then there will be a lot of ground excavation to be done with associated costs of disposal

If we put the new pitch on the existing lower football pitch then

The top-soil will have to be stripped but rather than being disposed of away from the site it can be re-laid (after appropriate treatment) on the all-weather

A new grass pitch can then be seeded on the all weather

Estimates of costs indicate a saving if we take the second option

There is room to build a club-house for AHC with either option so that is not a factor in the decision

Until the club-house is functioning changing rooms are only available in the Sports Hall (orange spot on the sketch) which will mean a trek across the site and security issues while matches are taking place. AHC are content with this solution.

There are unused changing rooms within school (closer to the new pitch - green spot on the sketch) which have now been dedicated to other uses including as examination rooms. Re-activation of these might be possible but difficult because of the in-school use

The major disadvantage from school’s point of view is the creation of another separate building on the site. Party of the Grand Plan was to unify the existing buildings for safeguarding purposes. As the link corridor was to be funded separately from the pitch there may still be scope for this to be added in to the project as a whole

The disadvantage in terms of care for the pitch will be the opportunity for those using it to walk across grass on their way there. This can be solved by good management

Overall this creates two new pitches to current standard and possibly brings the (currently unused) rugby pitch (purple spot on the sketch) back into play. It creates a sports hub to complement the facilities at UAK and is a major factor in establishing a “sports village” mooted by SportKeighley centred on Cliffe Castle, UAK and HFCS