Ambitious City setting their sights on getting new ground
RIPON City have announced ambitious plans to relocate from their Mallorie Park site to a purpose-built facility in the nearby area.
By Andrew Groves
The club are now in talks with Harrogate Borough Council about the project, which will only get the green light if their current land is designated for residential use under the Local Development Framework, being prepared by the council to plan for the district's development and conservation needs up to 2023.
Ripon City chairman Sue Dennison said in order for the club to progress up the football pyramid, relocation to a bigger site was a necessity.
City hope the new site - the location of which is yet to be announced - will be a focal point for the local community and provide more pitches for other clubs to train and play matches on.
"We're in talks with the borough council and we need to see if our ground is allocated for residential; that's the first thing we need to advance through," she said.
"At the moment there really isn't enough space. We've been playing at Mallorie Park for over 100 years but it's too small for us now.
"The next step up for us is the Northern Counties League. At the moment we don't meet the requirements for that league and that's why we want to move."
Council planning policy manager Dave Sykes confirmed that City's proposals are being examined by a working group set up to assist the council in its work on the Local Development Framework.
The group, which meets next month, is discussing options of improving sports provision in the district.
"These options include looking at the better use of existing facilities, the extension of existing facilities, dual use of school playing fields and also the relocation of existing facilities," Mr Sykes said.
"The proposals of Ripon City FC fall into the latter category and along with all the other options will be the subject of further discussion at the next meeting of the group in February."
City's manager Charlie Brown is excited about the prospect of a new base, which would include modern facilities such as a new clubhouse, a covered stand, turnstiles, extra pitches and floodlights.
"It's been three and a half years since we first kick started things," he said.
"There's mountains and mountains of paper work and the club has conducted feasibility studies. Financially it's already cost us a lot of money and it continues to do so but fingers crossed things are moving along now.
"We want to do it right. We've got one chance to make this work and we're determined to have a stadium that will be better than anything in the local area.
"The club is looking to get everything up to spec if we decide to make that step up into the North East Counties."
City's planning consultant Richard Irvine said the discussions are at an early stage and added there was no clear timescale when possible work could start.
"The situation is the club have made representations to Harrogate Borough Council as part of the Local Development Framework," he said.
"It's a long process and we're in the early stages at the moment, we've had meetings with the council but that's about all we can say. The club is very excited about the possible move. At the moment there's only one pitch at Mallorie Park but a lot of different teams.
"There's the senior sides, the fire brigade, the police and all the junior teams who play there. The plan would be to move to a place with more pitches."
The Northern Counties East League First Division will be the next step up for Ripon City. It is a Step 6 League and the club must meet the specific Ground Grading requirements laid down by the FA.
The NCEL has minimum requirements, the main one being the provision of suitable floodlighting to the required standard before acceptance into the league.
Other necessities include a covered seated area for at least 50 people, a covered standing area for 50 people, a suitable boundary fence around the full ground, a complete pitchside barrier, hard standing around the pitch as well as facilities for spectators such as toilets.
andrew.groves@ypn.co.uk
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Weather for Ripon
Saturday 26 May 2012
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