A rugby club in Wiltshire has applied to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for consent to build on a historic piece of land.
Marlborough Common, the home of Marlborough Rugby Club, is one of the UK’s many pieces of historic ‘common land’ which means the public owns the legal right to roam over it.
The land on Frees Avenue is well-used by dog walkers, runners, and sports players, and also hosts circuses, fairs and car boot sales.
But to protect public access to common land, developers wanting to build on the land are required to gain consent from the national government under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006.
This has caused issues for Marlborough Rugby Club, whose past planning applications to build a clubhouse and rugby posts on the land have proved controversial.
“There are a lot of users of the common and we not for one minute trying to fight with those people, we want everyone to be happy,” said Gary Sharp, former chairman of the club, when the club proposed a third pitch in 2020.
“But the football club and rugby club are both growing in numbers but we're running out of space – it's as simple as that. And the common is the obvious and in fact the only place that suits."
The latest proposal, currently being considered by the UK Government's Secretary of State, Steve Barclay, is for the expansion of the clubhouse to extend the kitchen area at the northern end of the building.
The expansion will only include an extra 9 meters squared of floor space, and approximately 10 meters of temporary fencing will be put up around the building during construction.
No changes are to be made to the existing vehicular and pedestrian access.
The income made by the bar and kitchen area in the clubhouse is used to support training and maintenance of facilities, and by expanding the kitchen the club hopes to benefit financially in the long run.
But despite the small scale of the expansion, Marlborough Rugby Club must still await official consent from the UK Government after already having fought for permission from Wiltshire Council.
Marlborough Rugby Club currently runs two senior teams of 20 players each, and has 300 mini and junior members, which is increasing to 320 next year.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel