Blackpool FC submits plans for stand and community pitches

The new East Stand would replace a temporary structure built when Blackpool were in the Premier League

Blackpool Football Club have submitted plans to build a new East Stand at Bloomfield Road stadium and develop community sports pitches alongside it.

An application has been lodged for a full-sized artificial grass pitch and a five-a-side artificial pitch along with changing rooms.

The club said the pitches would be used "by the local community and also for Blackpool FC's women and girls teams".

If planning permission is granted, work could begin in autumn 2023.

The new East Stand on the side of the ground known to fans historically as The Scratching Sheds, would be replacing a temporary structure erected when the club were in the Premier League.

'Vacant and undeveloped'

A previous application for sports facilities on the land, submitted in May 2021, has now been withdrawn.

The updated application said the pitches would be given white and coloured line markings to define various game format layouts for 11-a-side, seven-a-side and five-a-side football.

The document said: "The Revoe Community Sports Village project has been designed to respond to need identified in the local community for this type of development, and to leverage and enable investment within the Blackpool FC Bloomfield Road ground and surrounding environment."

The existing North Car Park would be relocated and there would be new public spaces.

The scheme, in Revoe council ward, has been awarded £6.5m from a regeneration fund, the £39.5m Town Deal, allocated to Blackpool by the government.

Blackpool owner Simon Sadler is expected to invest between £30m and £40m in the East Stand and development of a new training ground near Grange Park, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The sports village, which would be built on land previously earmarked for housing, is expected to provide facilities for three local schools that do not have their own pitches.

The planning document added that "as the site is largely vacant and undeveloped, the principle of providing a development that is directly related to the adjoining Blackpool FC stadium, presents a great opportunity to maximise the offering that Blackpool FC can provide".