Burgess Hill centre for outdoor sport to include football, rugby, cricket and athletics facilities

During a meeting of the cabinet on Monday (March 13), councillors agreed the scope of the project and approved the preparation of a reserved matters application.

If all goes as planned, the 8.6-hectare Centre will be built on land just south of the A2300, in Burgess Hill, forming part of the Brookleigh (Northern Arc) development, complementing the district’s existing sports facilities.

It will include a 3G football pitch, artificial grass rugby pitch, a clubhouse, regular football pitches, 7v7 pitches for children, an artificial cricket wicket and turf outfield, a six-lane 60m running straight and a play area.

The meeting was told that more than 500 people attended a public engagement event at the Triangle last week, where the ‘plans were generally well received’.

All of the feedback received by the council will go into a Statement of Community Involvement which will form part of the planning application.

Homes England is expected to hand over the majority of the site to the council later this month, with the Centre’s main facilities expected to be ready for use in June 2024.

Deputy leader John Belsey called the project ‘exciting and ambitious’.

He added: “The idea that the facilities could be ready for next summer is absolutely fantastic and clearly is going to need some careful project management to ensure that’s the case.”

Robert Salisbury, cabinet member for planning, said the £6m project would bring ‘huge benefits to the district’.

One of the questions raised during consultation with the public was the issue of drainage.

Robert Anderton, the council’s assistant director commercial services & contracts, said drainage would be newly installed.

Acknowledging the ‘widely known challenges we have with clay soil around here’, he added: “This will be a premium site, it will be brand new, it won’t be retrofitted and actually we’re very confident this will be a high-standard facility that will be able to take considerable use.”

Leader of the council, Jonathan Ash-Edwards called the Centre an ‘incredibly exciting project’ for the district.

He added: “I think this is a really good example of what we’ve said for a while now around the importance of having infrastructure coming right alongside new homes and new development.”