Developers to fund new sports facilities in Somerset village

Milborne Port lies near the Somerset-Dorset border within the Blackmore Vale, east of Sherborne and west of Henstridge and Templecombe.

The village, which lies on the crucial A30, has seen significant interest from housing developers over the last decade, with several sites being granted consent and two substantial sites being fully or largely built out.

Now the parish council intends to use contributions from those development to improve local recreation, submitting plans for an extension to the existing football club pavilion.

The existing Memorial Playing Fields on Springfield Road includes four football pitches (with a cricket pitch being created across two in the summer), a multi-use games area, two tennis courts, a children's play area and two pavilions - one for the local cricket club, and one for the football club.

Milborne Port Parish Council intends to build a 133 sq m extension to the football pavilion, to the east of the current structure, in order to provide better changing rooms for players and referees.

A spokesperson said: "The proposal seeks to meet the identified need for new and improved changing facilities for football at the Memorial Playing Fields.

"Specifically, the need is for additional changing facilities, to better accommodate sports teams and matches where youth and adults or different sex teams are playing at the same time.

"The design of the proposed new building complements the existing structure to which it will be joined, including breaking up the roof line with different heights and using similar building materials.

"The design adds further aesthetic and practical features including a covered connection with the existing building and a covered frontage area, and exterior timber cladding to walls.

"The site will benefit from the planting of an additional six broad-leaved trees along the existing narrow strip of grassland to the east of the site, to fill gaps in the existing tree line."

Much of the funding to deliver this extension will come from two housing developments on opposite sides of the village - The Hamlets on Gainsborough, and Gascoigne Park on Station Road.

The Hamlets estate (comprising 46 homes), south of the village's allotments and skate park, was approved on appeal in July 2017 and was subsequently delivered by Bovis Homes.

Entrance to The Hamlets on Gainsborough in Milborne Port (Image: Daniel Mumby)

As part of this development, £36,568 was set aside for the "enhancement of existing changing rooms" at the playing fields, with a further £21,173 being provided to improve the existing pitches.

The Gascoigne Park estate (comprising 65 homes and a community facility) is currently in the late stages of construction, with Redcliffe Homes securing outline consent back in July 2019.

Under the legal agreements for this site, £50,648 was set aside for "improved or new football changing facilities", with a further £41,210 being provided for new or improved pitches within the village.

In addition to these two sites, two other prominent locations within the village are currently being earmarked for new housing - meaning that additional funding for similar improvements could come forward in the next few years.

Entrance to the Gascoigne Park estate on Station Road in Milborne Port (Image: Daniel Mumby)

Bracken Developments Ltd. is currently seeking consent to deliver 32 homes south of Court Lane, at the northern boundary of village - where plans for 22 houses were previously turned down in February 2024.

Somerset Council's leisure team has requested £95,378 from this development to cover additional changing room improvements, sports pitches, children's play equipment and youth facilities (but not any enhancements to the village hall).

To the east of the Gascoigne Park site (south of the playing fields), Wyatt Homes secured detailed planning permission in March to deliver 58 homes on Wheathill Lane, along with allotments and car parking for the nearby cemetery.

Proposed site of 32 homes on Court Lane in Milborne Port (Image: Daniel Mumby)

Under the outline legal agreement for the site, £172,873 has been set aside for leisure provision - all of which must be paid to Somerset Council by the time half of the new homes within the site have been completed and occupied.

The council is expected to make a ruling on the football pavilion expansion shortly after Christmas, allowing construction to provisionally take place over the summer of 2027 ahead of the new season.

A spokesperson for the parish council added: "The new facilities will be available for other sports to use as well, including tennis and cricket, both of which are also played at the site. All these sports local clubs were consulted in the design process.

Planned site of 58 homes on Wheathill Lane in Milborne Port, seen from public footpath (Image: Daniel Mumby)

"The design provides high-quality facilities to encourage greater participation in physical activity at the Memorial Playing Fields."

A decision on the Court Lane proposals is also expected to be taken within the next six months.

Wyatt Homes (which is currently delivery homes on the Brimsmore Key Site in Yeovil) has not confirmed exactly how soon construction on the Wheathill Lane site is expected to begin.