It’s coming home? Niton Football Club (NFC) is trying to return to its former home of 60 years after planning issues kept them away.
Plans have been submitted by the club to install temporary mobile outbuilding changing rooms and an equipment store at its former home ground Springhead, on Blackgang Road.
NFC had been based at Springhead since the 1960s, but since houses were built in one corner a few years ago, where its former changing rooms and clubhouse stood, the club has been homeless.
Planning permission was granted for four houses but it was stipulated to developers, Billings Group, that temporary changing facilities should be provided for NFC before the dwellings could be built.
The houses were built with no facilities provided for the football club, despite a letter from Niton and Whitwell Parish Council drawing the Isle of Wight Council’s attention to it in 2018.
The planning permission also included an agreement for a £40,000 financial contribution to NFC from the Billings Group and a 125-year lease of Springhead at a peppercorn rent.
Football has not been played at Springhead since 2017 and it costs the club around £900 a year to play elsewhere, usually in Newport.
While the money has been raised by volunteers and supporters of the club, the situation is not sustainable to continue.
In a justification statement submitted to the Isle of Wight Council, the club says the sport needs to return to Springhead as soon as possible.
They said:
“The fact there is no football being played in the village means the youngsters aren’t inspired to start playing and get involved with the club.”
The club has been unsuccessful in applying for grant funding to build permanent facilities at Springhead, which are likely to cost over £250,000, so it says its only hope now of restoring football in Niton is for the temporary solution to be adopted.
The proposed buildings will sit in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty but will be clad in timber-boarding and screened from view by new and existing hedgerows.
Work on the temporary facilities started at the site in October last year but is yet to finish.
To view the plans, 22/00506/FUL, you can visit the council’s planning register. Comments can be submitted until May 4.
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