The first works have started on a £70m sports project in Oldham, which aims to bring 25,000 weekly visitors by the time it’s completed in 2030.
Spades are officially in the ground for the brand new ‘SportsTown’, which will include a huge expansion of the Boundary park football grounds.
Contractors started installing a brand new 3G surface at Little Wembley on Monday, June 23. The turf adjacent to the main stadium will become a training pitch for youngsters at the Oldham Athletic Academy.
It will also become home to a range of education development courses and programmes as SportsTown develops.
The first works are funded by a £5m grant from the Government’s Community Regeneration Fund. Further funding is expected to come from private investment, government and council grants in the next five years.
Club Chairman, Frank Rothwell OBE, ceremoniously dug the first piece of earth at the grounds on Monday. He said: “Little Wembley is an area which is steeped in history, so it is very fitting that this work should be the first to take place in the next phase of our developments.
“Once complete, Little Wembley will provide state-of-the-art 3G facilities which will become home to our academy as it develops following our return to the EFL.”
The SportsTown plan intends to turn Boundary Park into a ‘four sport’ complex, with football, rugby, netball and cricket at its core. The ‘ambitious’ plans include a netball pitch, improved cricket facilities and a built-in ‘learning centre’ to support qualifications in athletics-adjacent industries, including health, wellbeing and teaching.
The ‘dream’ even includes a 3,000-seater sports arena for netball competitions, rugby league, basketball and wheelchair sports, which would help bring the 25,000 weekly visitors to the site within five years.
Oldham Council is supporting the scheme, with townhall boss Arooj Shah present at the first dig.
Coun Shah said: “I’m delighted that SportsTown has reached another really important milestone with the start of construction at Little Wembley.
“SportsTown will build on Oldham’s rich sporting legacy, it’ll create more community spaces for people to play and enjoy sports, as well as create opportunities for new jobs in sports, health and education.”
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