Plans to improve Wallingford Sports Park for the future with the announcement of community consultation launching this week. 

The consultation will be about plans to improve the parks sporting offer, which includes plans for new all-weather pitches and improved access, parking and draining.

It will take place from 9am on Saturday, July 6 until 5pm on Wednesday, July 17.

During this period the consultation information will be available at www.wallingfordsportspark.co.uk

The Wallingford Sports Trust is aiming to achieve its vision of providing sports and social facilities for access by the local population to a wide range of sports facilities, catering for people of all abilities.

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The ideas are currently at a formative stage, so the community consultation will offer stakeholders an early opportunity to find out about and discuss ideas to improve the sports facilities before plans are firmed up.

A planning application is aiming to be submitted in the autumn.

Sports park manager Matthew Bowden-Fords said: “The plans were born out of necessity. We have suffered badly with flooding and there are a considerable amount of times where the grass pitches flood.

"Improved facilities is key and is one of the driving forces, and so is the ability to play sport over the winter time and increase the amount of sports being played.

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"We want to make the park home to all age groups with the edition of a 3G pitch. We could then have more back-to-back training and more back-to-back games can operate."

Outdoor seating area of cafe at Wallingford Sports Club which opened last year (Image: Steve Holder)

Mr Bowden-Fords said the plans to try and elevate the astro turf pitches into 3G pitches is "key to the future of football".

There is also potential for the introduction of padel courts for padel tennis, which Mr Bowen-Fords said is "one of the fastest growing sports in the world" and there is "a need for the facilities to be potentially added into the park".

Key drivers for the new plans include the need for Wallingford and Crowmarsh Football Club to merge on one site rather than being spread across multiple sites in the town, the growth in sport requiring more robust and weather resistant solutions at the site, and the need for better arrangements for parking.

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Mr Bowden-Fords added: "I am extremely excited [about the plans], we are doing it to try and future proof the park for generations to come as well as the people using it now.

“Elevated facilities would benefit all of those who use it, not just those in Wallingford, but the surrounding villages as well.”

There will also be three public drop-in sessions in the newly opened Pitchside Café in the clubhouse on Hithercroft Road starting this weekend.

These will take place on Saturday, July 6 from 10am until 1pm, Wednesday July 10 from 5.30 until 7.30, and Monday, July 15 from 5.30 until 7.30.