Bradford on Avon Rugby Club has been given permission to build an indoor training facility at its Winsley grounds – despite local fears over its size, with one resident describing it as an 'Amazon warehouse'.
The popular amateur club provides training for boys and girls from the age of five, and fields 20 junior, adult and veteran teams.
Its pitches were established on greenfield land at Winsley - two miles from Bradford on Avon - after it outgrew the playing fields of the town's comprehensive school, St Laurence.
In 2023 the club announced plans to build an indoor training facility close to the existing clubhouse and launched a fundraising campaign.
Since then - and after some initial local opposition - the club, its architects, and planning officials have been going backwards and forwards to agree a design at a scale that might satisfy community concerns whilst meeting the club's needs for a structure large enough to accommodate rugby skills training - including the kicking of balls at height.
On Wednesday, members of Wiltshire Council's western area planning committee met to determine a planning application by the club to erect a structure 50.5 metres long, 33.6m wide, and 9.5m tall – approximately half the length and width of an outdoor rugby pitch.
Councillors heard that the building had been designed to mimic an agricultural structure. It would be covered in cladding of green hues, ranging from dark green at the base to light green at the roofline.
It was, said planning officers, smaller than the 58.6 by 36.6 metre building that the club had originally intended to propose, which would have reached a maximum height of 12.6 metres tall.
Clive Roberts, director of the rugby club, explained that the nature of the sport required a large training space. "We have plenty of land, but for four weeks of the year the grounds become waterlogged and are unplayable," he said.
"We train 340 players every week. This facility would give us 1,200 extra training hours over those four weeks.
"I urge you to consider that this is a good thing for community," he implored.
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The application was supported by Winsley Cricket Club, which expressed an interest in using the training facility during the winter months. "We are really struggling to find somewhere locally to train during the winter," said a spokesman. "We can have a fantastic sporting facility here."
But Ian Berry, chairman of Winsley Parish Council, questioned the business case for the facility. "Four weeks a year offers little justification," he said.
He outlined concerns of local residents over the size of the proposed development, and over the fears of increased traffic using the narrow roads around the village and the club.
"We are a small community of 2,000 people, and we are being asked to accept a development much larger than the village can accommodate," he said.
And one Winsley resident told councillors: "They've asked for an Amazon distribution warehouse. No amount of landscaping will hide it."
Planning committee member Nigel White, newly-elected to the council to represent Winsley & Westwood, said as a former rugby player he "appreciated the passion and enthusiasm," but "it would be significant in size – twice the height of any other building at the club.
"I'm not convinced we've satisfied the need for it," he said.
But councillor Bill parks said: "I'm struggling to see on what grounds we could refuse it."
After some deliberation, councillors voted by a majority to approve the application.
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