As previously announced on the league website, Manchester League club West Didsbury & Chorlton have applied to join our league next season.
It's the latest step for a club that has been working towards developing the facilities at their Brookburn Road home to Chartered Standard, and they are hopeful that a visit from Manchester City Council's Planning Committee on 14th January will deliver a positive outcome.
Club Secretary Monica Creer explained:
"We requested a visit from the Vodkat League Grading Committee last season, to get an idea of what work was needed to bring the existing ground up to the required standard, and decided we would target an application for season 2010-11.
"Since then, we have purchased the land adjoining our ground, which is known as Hardy Farm, and have put in an application for planning permission to develop it. These plans include a full size 3G pitch with floodlights, and the plan is that would enable our affiliated junior team Oswald Road JFC to have a permanent base for all ten of their teams at the various age groups.
"The big day for us is the 14th January, when the Planning Committee visit the ground. There has been substantial opposition to the scheme from local residents, but we are hopeful that the committee will see the community benefits that our plans will deliver. We understand they will make a decision on the day, so we won't have to wait too long.
"If we do get turned down, we will probably have to scale down the plans to the point where we just develop the existing facilities for the time being, and put the remainder of the development on hold, but hopefully that won't be the case.
"The existing ground needs floodlights, and needs to be fully enclosed with some addition hard standing around the perimeter of the pitch to bring it up to Vodkat League standard, but that work has been included in the plans we have submitted".
One of the main selling points of the development is that it would provide some badly needed facilities for the junior teams, which is something that Monica has a particular interest in achieving.
"I've been involved with the Oswald Road junior teams as Secretary for 13 years", she explained. "I work at Oswald Road Primary School on Longford Road, and most of the children in the club's teams either attend the school or used to. So I've got a joint interest really, a professional and a personal one. It is very rewarding when you see players from the school progressing through the teams into the senior squads, in fact one of our present first team players in the Manchester League started out as a seven year old in one of the youngest teams.
"Our proposed development would provide a facility that South Manchester desperately needs, as there are very few pitches available for junior teams to play. Oswald Road has over 200 children playing in their various teams, and they currently have to play in Chalk Park, which is on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton. The pitches there have absolutely no facilities, and the kids have to get changed at the side of the pitch.
"On top of that, they are not very well maintained, and we are often elbowed out by pub teams who want to play there. When that happens we can have real problems in trying to find alternative pitches and sometimes we have to hire pitches as far away as Flixton. As well as ten junior teams, we have a first team, second team, third team, veterans team and a youth team, so there would be no shortage of people using the facilities if we get the go ahead".
So, as the visit from the Planning Committee looms, Monica says the feeling around the club is one of cautious optimism.
"I really hope we will be successful, and I've always been an optimist, so I am looking ahead positively. The land used to be owned by Manchester University, who used it as a floodlit sports facility then, so it's not as if we are proposing something that is brand new to the area.
"We can only hope that the Planning Committee recognises that what we are trying to do is develop a facility the area desperately needs, give our youngsters a proper base with good facilities, and offer them the chance to develop their playing careers at a good standard of football".
