Oldham: Two artificial pitches can extend usage hours

Separate applications were lodged for the artificial pitches at Yew Tree Community School in Chadderton and the future pitch at Little Wembley, which is being developed after plans were approved in December.

Both applications looked to extend the hours which they could be used, and at a meeting of the council's planning committee on Wednesday (June 5), permission was given to both.

The pitch at Yew Tree Community School, on Alcester Street, was allowed to be used between 8am and 5.30pm on weekdays but will be able to operate between 9am and 9.30pm each day of the week.

The pitch at Yew Tree Community School was recently given permission to install floodlights (Image: Google Maps/Oldham Council)

At the meeting, a resident said the extended hours would lead to more traffic in the area and although the school had a car park for people to use, there was no requirement for them to do so.

She asked councillors to "give us some peace and quiet once school is out" and also said the extended use would attract more children to congregate in the area.

Cllr Graham Shuttleworth, who represents Chadderton South, where the school is based, spoke on behalf of residents and told councillors the application should be refused on grounds of increased traffic and questions over whether parking would be properly staffed.

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A representative of Yew Tree Community School said the traffic during evenings and weekends would not be as heavy as peak school times and that anti-social behaviour around the pitch was being addressed.

Councillors voted to approve the extended hours by a majority of seven (Cllrs Marc Hince, Garth Harkness, Shoab Akhtar, Sajed Hussain, Nadeem Iqbal, Zaheer Ali, Umar Nasheen) to five (Cllrs Peter Davis, Lewis Quigg, Maggie Hurley, Angela Cosgrove), while one (Cllr Diane Williamson) abstained and one (Cllr Brian Hobin) was unable to vote).

The second application looked at the artificial pitch which will be developed at Little Wembley.

An artist's impression of the future Little Wembley (Image: Oldham Athletic)

When the application to develop the pitch was approved, the committee decided the pitch could be used between 9am and 9pm on weekdays, while on Saturdays it could operate between 10am and 6pm and between 10am and 9pm on Sunday.

Oldham Athletic will now be able to operate the pitch from 9am on weekends instead of 10am.

A representative of the club said at the meeting that the existing pitch had always been open from 9am on weekends in the past and that it was the time used for most pitches across Greater Manchester.

When the plans for the pitch were approved, the committee heard from residents who were concerned about the operating hours of the pitch and the approved times were amended from the original ones.

However, the plans were approved following a vote of nine (Cllrs Harkness, Cosgrove, Davis, Iqbal, Hussain, Ali, Williamson, Hobin and Nasheen) to four (Cllrs Akhtar, Hurley, Woodvine and Quigg).

Cllr Hince abstained from the vote.