Sports hub to be built in park

A SUPER new community hub and sporting facility is to be built in Warrington’s Victoria Park after planning bosses signalled the go-ahead.
The scheme include a 300-seat grandstand, floodlit rugby pitch, changing rooms, bar and community room.
The development will be surrounded by a new 2.4m high fence – and the development will be built on stilts to take into account the possibility of flooding from the nearby River Mersey.
The floodlit pitch will be used by the Warrington Wolves Academy and junior teams for training and matches.
Warrington Wolves and Latchford Albion Amateur Rugby League Club both backed the project, which they see as a welcome facility following the closure of Wolves’ old stadium at Wilderspool.
The development will be on land to the east of the existing athletics arena and it will have parking for 380 vehicles.
A balcony with glazing is proposed at first floor level overlooking the existing running track.
The site has a medium-to-high probability of tidal and river flooding. Victoria Park is integral to the Environment Agency’s flood defence scheme for Warrington and it is acknowledged that that development in a functional flood plain has the potential to impact on the capacity of the flood plain.
As a result, the development will be built on stilts to ensure loss of capacity is kept to a minimum.
In addition, an underground storage area will be provided to accommodate surface water run-off to cater for a 1-in-30 year flood event – plus 20 per cent to allow for climate change.
Members of the planning committee approved the development which they described as “excellent.”