Dacorum BC and football in Berkhamsted
As a member of the Dacorum Sports Network, Raiders aims to influence the policies of Dacorum Borough Council that relate to sports facilities. The DSN provides a voice for sport in Dacorum and lobbies for the promotion and development of sport in our area.
After some excellent work by Andy Criddle, the Vice Chair of the DSN, a DBC have established Dacorum Football Working Group to review issues related to football facilities and provision.
DBC have been unable to take advantage of the Football Foundation’s Pitch Improvement Grant scheme which would have provided funding for additional pitch maintenance on DBC pitches. Due to health and safety policies DBC could not sanction work undertaken by third party contractors. Subsequently, DBC have agreed to undertake additional maintenance in-house to improve the state of the council pitches. An FA Pitch Advisor has inspected DBC pitches at Velvet Lawn and Lagley Meadow, used by Raiders, and Butts Meadow, used by Gossoms End FC, and graded them as “Inadequate”. DBC have responded by investing £100,000 in additional machinery – verti-draining equipment, turf tyres for their tractors and GPS robot line marker, spent double on sand dressing and on seeding per pitch and will increase grass cutting frequency. This should result in a significant improvement in pitch quality for those teams using DBC pitches.
Dacorum Local Plan… housing and sports facilities
There are major plans for housing and infrastructure development across Dacorum. You can download the relevant documents from the DBC Local Plan site for an insight into these. The Berkhamsted Proposals and Sites are within this section of the Local Plan document. Take a look at where the 2,200+ new dwellings are proposed for Berkhamsted over the period 2020-2038.
Consultation on the DBC “Emerging Strategy for Growth (2020-2038)” will take place between 5pm on Friday 27 November 2020 and 11.59pm on Sunday 7 February 2021. You can “have your say” on the DBC Consultation Portal.
Sports and leisure facilities will be linked to these developments. The Dacorum Sports Network and Raiders will direct their efforts to ensure that the provision of sports facilities takes account of the current under provision and meets the significant future demand from an increased population.