Fawley cricketers will be among numerous sporting beneficiaries now that a proposal by Esso & ExxonMobil to enhance the off-field facilities at Holbury has been approved by New Forest planners.
Esso & ExxonMobil, who own the spacious 14.5 acre Waterside site, have successfully 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 shared 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.
Youth academy
Fawley’s cricketers are due to be playing in Division 2 of the Southern Premier Cricket League next summer.
Their on-field activities were seriously affected by the coronavirus pandemic crisis this summer, but provided recreational cricket is given the green light to start again next spring they will be up and running with teams at adult and junior level in 2021.
“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.”
The demolition of the former cinema building will begin next month, after which work will commence on the new multiple changing rooms, bar and function facilities which will replace the pitch-side Portakabins which Have been used for the past 12 years.
Thriving
“The granting of planning approval has given Waterside sport an enormous boost,” Mr Tona added.
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.
AFC Fawley chairman Kevin Mitchell, a decent cricketer in his playing days, said: “Exxonmobil made a commitment to invest in the community and the sports facility, and they have done that for many years.
“They are the largest employer in the Waterside area and we have all benefitted tremendously over the years. They’ve recently installed new gates and fences and paid for essential maintenance and running costs, as well as contributing a large sum to the new football floodlights and temporary changing rooms for the cricketers.
“Its going to make a huge difference to the club. It will give us modern and fairly maintenance-free facilities, and visually it will make the existing club area much nicer.
“This will hopefully be a stepping stone for us to keep improving on and off the pitch.”
Esso & ExxonMobil, who own the spacious 14.5 acre Waterside site, have successfully 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 shared 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.
Youth academy
Fawley’s cricketers are due to be playing in Division 2 of the Southern Premier Cricket League next summer.
Their on-field activities were seriously affected by the coronavirus pandemic crisis this summer, but provided recreational cricket is given the green light to start again next spring they will be up and running with teams at adult and junior level in 2021.
“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.”
The demolition of the former cinema building will begin next month, after which work will commence on the new multiple changing rooms, bar and function facilities which will replace the pitch-side Portakabins which Have been used for the past 12 years.
Thriving
“The granting of planning approval has given Waterside sport an enormous boost,” Mr Tona added.
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.
AFC Fawley chairman Kevin Mitchell, a decent cricketer in his playing days, said: “Exxonmobil made a commitment to invest in the community and the sports facility, and they have done that for many years.
“They are the largest employer in the Waterside area and we have all benefitted tremendously over the years. They’ve recently installed new gates and fences and paid for essential maintenance and running costs, as well as contributing a large sum to the new football floodlights and temporary changing rooms for the cricketers.
“Its going to make a huge difference to the club. It will give us modern and fairly maintenance-free facilities, and visually it will make the existing club area much nicer.
“This will hopefully be a stepping stone for us to keep improving on and off the pitch.”
