Bolton Council has completed work on a new 3G pitch in Westhoughton, to support participation in sports, and promote health and wellbeing amongst young people and adults.
The pitch has been built on an existing shale pitch at Westhoughton High School and will now be used both by the school teams and by the local community.
Local company GreenFields built the 3G pitch. The company has built 3G pitches at football clubs and schools across the country.
The pitch has been completed in time for the school and community teams to use it for the spring and summer season and is the first of three new 3G pitches to be completed, as part of £1.5m of capital funding from the council.
These pitches will add to the six 3G pitches already approved or operating in Bolton; Ladybridge Football Club; ESSA School; Bolton Arena; and St Catherine’s Academy; Bolton Lads and Girls Club and one more in development at Ladybridge High School.
All the new facilities will be managed by Bolton Community Leisure Trust with a pricing structure similar to that which has been adopted at the new 3G pitch at Bolton Lads and Girls Club and is proposed at Ladybridge High School.
Bolton Council’s Cabinet Member for Youth, Culture and Sport, Councillor John Byrne said: “We are delighted to have completed this new pitch in Westhoughton. This new pitch will provide modern, high quality facilities for the school and local community teams in the area. We hope that this and the other new 3G pitches will attract more people to get involved in sport, as well as improving health and wellbeing across the borough.”
Mark Bucknall, Operations Manager at GreenFields has been managing the project from the start, he commented: “The new pitch installation was extremely important to us as it provides better facilities for the local community right on our doorstep. We are proud to have been selected for this key development and look forward to seeing updates of the activities taking place on it.”