 The former 300-seater cinema at Holbury will be bulldozed and, if the Esso Exxon Mobil proposals are approved by New Forest planners, replaced with purpose built changing facilities to serve the Holbury sports ground. |  |
Fawley cricketers will be among numerous sporting beneficiaries if a proposal by Esso & ExxonMobil to enhance the off-field facilities at Holbury is approved by New Forest planners.
Esso & ExxonMobil, who own the spacious 14.5 acre Waterside site, have applied to the New Forest District Council for permission to bulldoze the 300-seat former cinema building in Long Lane, Holbury, that has stood empty for the past four years, and transform the site.
They plan to replace it with a new purpose-built sports pavilion, together with improved car parking - a proposal which the Holbury Community Sports Association believes will be an enormous asset to the entire Waterside sporting community.
It will also provide additional parking for the neighbouring school, New Forest Academy..
The Holbury site off Long Lane is home to Fawley cricket club, who use the ground in the summer, and AFC Fawley in the winter – both thriving sports organisations heavily involved in grass roots development, and with numerous junior teams.
Five-tier youth academy
Newly promoted to Division 2 of the Southern Premier Cricket League, Fawley would normally be starting their summer season around now, but the coronavirus pandemic crisis has led to the ECB suspending all recreational cricket for the foreseeable future.
“We normally field three adult league cricket teams, besides boasting a five-tier youth Academy which provides competitive summer sport for children from 9 to 19 years of age,” confirmed HSCA chairman Chris Tona.
“We’re also involved in All Stars and were due to start Dynamo cricket for slightly older kids, so in midweek and on Sundays the ground is teeming with children all dreaming of being the next Ben Stokes.”
For the past two summers - and again this season, if cricket actually gets going – Fawley players, visiting teams and umpires changed in temporary wooden huts on the side of the outfield and which have to be dismantled and removed at the end of the season.
He added: “It’s far from ideal and underlines why the cricket club is so keen to see planning permission granted to the Esso/Exxon Mobil proposal.”
Thriving
“If planning consent is approved, it will give Waterside sport an enormous boost.”
Similarly, AFC Fawley, members of the Sydenham Wessex Football League, field regular Saturday/midweek soccer teams and has a hugely thriving junior set-up
They have ten separate year groups, from 7 years of age upwards, benefiting from coaching and regular competitive soccer.
The Holbury sports ground is also the home of Waterside lawn bowls club, long standing members of the New Forest and Southampton Leagues, and Fawley tennis club.
The old Sports and Recreation Club was built in 1949 for people working at the Fawley refinery.
In 2002 it was leased to Waterside Sports and Social Club (WSSC), but 14 years later in 2016 WSSC went into liquidation and since then the buildings have stood empty and boarded-up and have been subject to sporadic incidents of theft and vandalism."
Esso says it is uneconomic to further maintain the redundant buildings.”
Over 150 Waterside residents have responded following the New Forest District Council’s public consultation of the proposal, the majority backing the Esso/ExxonMobil plan.
Esso & ExxonMobil, who own the spacious 14.5 acre Waterside site, have applied to the New Forest District Council for permission to bulldoze the 300-seat former cinema building in Long Lane, Holbury, that has stood empty for the past four years, and transform the site.
They plan to replace it with a new purpose-built sports pavilion, together with improved car parking - a proposal which the Holbury Community Sports Association believes will be an enormous asset to the entire Waterside sporting community.
It will also provide additional parking for the neighbouring school, New Forest Academy..
The Holbury site off Long Lane is home to Fawley cricket club, who use the ground in the summer, and AFC Fawley in the winter – both thriving sports organisations heavily involved in grass roots development, and with numerous junior teams.
Five-tier youth academy
Newly promoted to Division 2 of the Southern Premier Cricket League, Fawley would normally be starting their summer season around now, but the coronavirus pandemic crisis has led to the ECB suspending all recreational cricket for the foreseeable future.
“We normally field three adult league cricket teams, besides boasting a five-tier youth Academy which provides competitive summer sport for children from 9 to 19 years of age,” confirmed HSCA chairman Chris Tona.
“We’re also involved in All Stars and were due to start Dynamo cricket for slightly older kids, so in midweek and on Sundays the ground is teeming with children all dreaming of being the next Ben Stokes.”
For the past two summers - and again this season, if cricket actually gets going – Fawley players, visiting teams and umpires changed in temporary wooden huts on the side of the outfield and which have to be dismantled and removed at the end of the season.
He added: “It’s far from ideal and underlines why the cricket club is so keen to see planning permission granted to the Esso/Exxon Mobil proposal.”
Thriving
“If planning consent is approved, it will give Waterside sport an enormous boost.”
Similarly, AFC Fawley, members of the Sydenham Wessex Football League, field regular Saturday/midweek soccer teams and has a hugely thriving junior set-up
They have ten separate year groups, from 7 years of age upwards, benefiting from coaching and regular competitive soccer.
The Holbury sports ground is also the home of Waterside lawn bowls club, long standing members of the New Forest and Southampton Leagues, and Fawley tennis club.
The old Sports and Recreation Club was built in 1949 for people working at the Fawley refinery.
In 2002 it was leased to Waterside Sports and Social Club (WSSC), but 14 years later in 2016 WSSC went into liquidation and since then the buildings have stood empty and boarded-up and have been subject to sporadic incidents of theft and vandalism."
Esso says it is uneconomic to further maintain the redundant buildings.”
Over 150 Waterside residents have responded following the New Forest District Council’s public consultation of the proposal, the majority backing the Esso/ExxonMobil plan.
Fawley, runners-up in Southern Premier League Division 3 in 2019.
