Last updated at 16:32, Monday, 24 September 2012

A REVAMPED sports pitch could be open for business by April.

ON THE BALL: Ian Jones at the site of Park Leisure Centre. A refurbishment scheme is to be carried out to convert the all-weather pitch, creating six five-a-side courts and a 60 by 40 metre pitch

Pulse Leisure is due to carry out a £600,000 refurbishment scheme to convert the all-weather pitch at the Park Leisure Centre, in Barrow, creating six five-a-side courts and a 60 by 40 metre pitch.

The existing pitch closed in October last year after it was deemed unsafe for use and was losing around £15,000 a year.

The plans for a new pitch were then put on hold when Pulse Leisure was unable to obtain a £1.2m loan and in April, Barrow Borough Council stepped in and provided £600,000 in return for a share of future profits.

Keith Johnson, the council’s community services manager, told the Evening Mail: “We have got a commitment that it will be up and running by March 31.

“It is only going to take 12 weeks to do the work and we are just ironing out some contractual details just now.”

Dennis Boyd, secretary of Barrow Celtic Football Club, said his team had been one of the most frequent users of the pitch.

He said: “When it was in use Barrow Celtic used it on Wednesdays and Fridays. When that pitch closed it knocked the heart out of Barrow Celtic.

“It was our main training facility, after that happened we’ve been all over the place – Ormsgill, Thorncliffe, Parkview. It left us splintered.

“I’m certainly looking forward to it opening again. It’s the best news I’ve had in the last two seasons.”

Speaking about the plans earlier this year Ian Jones, manager of Park Leisure Centre, said when most people think of an “artificial” sports pitch, they think of the sort of synthetic surface which causes painful friction burns if you fall on it.

But he said these pitches will be fitted with latest generation artificial grass, the closest you can get to the real thing. The top-of-the-range turf can take a football stud and is used on training pitches of some of the world’s top football clubs, including Real Madrid. But the development has proved unpopular in the hockey community.

Karen Griffiths, head of PE at St Bernard’s School in Barrow, said while the pitch will provide improved space for football, the development leaves Barrow without a suitable hockey pitch.

She said: “The problem is they are making a 3G surface. Hockey teams can’t compete on a 3G pitch due to the length of the pile. We used to have 50 or 60 kids and go down from school on a Tuesday and then with the other schools we had tournaments on Thursdays.

“They are not providing facilities for the kids. We’re trying to inspire athletes following the Olympics but there are no facilities.”

First published at 16:25, Monday, 24 September 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk