10:27am Thursday 2nd July 2009
By Ali Dent
WORK is set to start on a £40,000 project to transform a sports training ground in Chipping Sodbury.
Builders have started installing a drainage system on an area as big as a football pitch at The Ridings, on Wickwar Road, under an improvement programme which was voted for by members of the public.
The project to transform land that resembled a ‘quagmire’ into a training ground that can be used by sporting youngsters all year round won the support of viewers of ITV West’s People’s Millions competition.
After facing tough opposition, The Ridings won a televised vote for the money late last year.
David Shipp, chairman of Chipping Sodbury Town Trust which owns the land, said: "We are so pleased to see that the work starting.
"It will make such a difference to The Ridings as there will be a new area for children to use all year round."
Ancillary work has started and the engineering project of the new drainage system is expected to take between four and six weeks.
Mr Shipp said events such as the Chipping Sodbury Beer Festival this weekend had not been affected by the work because it was taking place on a different part of The Ridings.
He added: "The majority of the work will be completed in this first week.
"Then it will be a case of putting everything back in place and plating and seeding the area.
"When it is open it will be used all year round for football, cricket and tennis as well as car boot sales and other community events.
"The Ridings is just getting bigger and bigger."
The work coincides with the start of a project to construct a new sports hall and training pitch at Chipping Sodbury School, which gets underway with a turf-cutting ceremony next week.
Both projects follow years of campaigning for improved sports facilities and public spaces in the town.
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