Football Pitches Under Threat

Preston City Council argue that the River Ribble, and the area around it is 'bleak and underdeveloped', and that this justifies the ideas contained in the 'Riverworks' proposals to barrage the river, to create a water sports park, and to build over 4000 houses on the green areas that lie in the river's flood plain.

However, every time local people look at this map, a composite masterplan produced for the council by Taylor and Young they spot another popular and precious local resource that is threatened by these development proposals:


Anyone who knows the local area can see that several popular areas, currently used for sport and recreation are earmarked to be covered by a big area of 'quality' housing and businesses.

Football pitches under threat include:

Vernon's



Penwortham Holme



and Frenchwood Recreation Ground



These pitches are used by hundreds of people, all year round, in all weathers - far more people than would use a 'water sports park' (Do you own a jet-ski? - Would you use a water sports park on a wet December morning?).

Preston is traditionally a football town, with a proud record of Preston North End going right back to the beginnings of the football league. Football is getting increasingly popular among young people - and in these days of childhood obesity, our football pitches are a precious resource. All these pitches are used by local youth teams from different Lancashire leagues, both for matches and training sessions.

Local people in the Broadgate area fought for years to prevent this development on the BAC Club's sports fields - eventually we lost the battle, and this is the consequence:



Don't let this be a taste of things to come for the rest of the beautiful land around the River Ribble!

One thing people can do NOW is to register for the Local Area Development Framework Consultation.

Another is to join the Save The Ribble Campaign and build even more opposition to these ideas: contact savetheribble@tiscali.co.uk