New Astro-Turf pitch at Partington Sports Village is officially launched

The second astro-turf football pitch has been completed and officially opened at a ceremony held at Partington Sports Village.

Councillors and the Mayor of Trafford including Chair of Trafford Leisure and Broadoak School’s Head Teacher were at the official opening of the new Astro-Turf pitch which sits next to another artificial football pitch which has been around for many years.

This new pitch that belongs to the school will be open to the community after school and during weekends and school holidays and likely to be restricted to bookings.

The cost of the new pitch according to Trafford Council was £1.05m, this money was mostly from the FA (Football Association) £801k and Trafford contributing £200k, this football pitch is state of the art with the latest technology so whoever gets to play on it will have the best experience.

Partington won £18.3m from the Levelling up fund which will be used to change Cross Lane Park for ever! whilst we approve facilities to help ‘Local residents’ to improve overall fitness much of Cross Lane Park’s many football pitches will not always be for local people.

The run trail will be welcomed by some dog walkers more so when the rain comes, we hope it will be used by those who want to get fit or even for those local runners getting ready for the Trafford 10k or maybe the Manchester Marathon and other athletic events, its actually a good thing so long as it was treated and wide enough.

The changing rooms will be refurbished by the FA if the pitches can be built on all green space other than where the pitch and putt used to be, we believe the decision has already been made and will cause residents already worried about the car parking problems some further issues.

If the football pitches become popular during the lighter months it will have some access issues for local people walking the dogs during the evening, Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and weekend will be footballers training or playing a game, noise issues will occur for those on Cross Lane East, likely also players looking for somewhere to urinate ‘Will’ be a problem.

With a children’s park very close by and a BMX/Skate park also in situ kids will be playing at times when the football players are either training or playing putting them at risk something we hope has been mentioned.

The council claims all sorts of things, choosing the healthy way but they have completely failed in our opinion since they have a disused railway through Partington that they have the chance and now we have heard the money to get this ex rail corridor opened up as a safe cycle/walk/run route which would not only save lives but actually act on reducing pollution something that will be a bigger problem in Partington very soon, Trafford was the first to declare a Climate Emergency! and they prefer a 2 mile car park full of cars to the Mile Road, vans and a big number of HGV’s oh and lots of buses!

We want to see the disused rail line opened up which would show to the people of Partington they are serious about improving health safely! but also this Climate Crisis that they keep talking about which we have different views on.

Cllr Tom Ross, Leader of Trafford Council explains: “We are transforming Partington Sports Village into a state-of-the-art facility and the new artificial grass pitch will be a fantastic addition to the facility. We are totally committed to ensuring residents are given access to fabulous sporting facilities like this. Budding young male and female football stars will begin their journeys here and it will be used by the community for many decades. Thanks to everyone who worked on this superb project.” 

Taun Kapur, CBE, Chief Executive, Dean Trust says: “The Trust has been in the heart of the Partington community for nearly 20 years and provides a good education for all pupils in our three schools. This new facility will further enhance opportunities for the wider school community and for community groups and football teams in the South Trafford area. We are particularly pleased that we are able to provide the majority of usage for women and girls, in this exciting growth area of football. Many thanks to all partners who have made this dream a reality.”