Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Plans lodged with council to turn unused land in Elgin into all-weather pitch

Dave Allen, chairman of Elgin Sports Community Trust.
Picture by Jason Hedges
Dave Allen, chairman of Elgin Sports Community Trust. Picture by Jason Hedges

A community group has lodged plans to transform a barren patch of grass into a 3G pitch designed to encourage youngsters to embrace sport.

Land at Lesser Borough Briggs, near the Elgin City FC ground in the Moray town, has been subject to various proposals over the years.

The Elgin Sports Community Trust wants to take control of the site from Moray Council and build a floodlit, all-weather sports surface estimated to be worth £600,000 on the common good land.

The group also aims to create two small five-a-side pitches, and a “sports court” area for other pastimes such as netball.

The trust, set up in 2017, says it would be available to community groups and individuals.

And members have now lodged documents with the local authority detailing their proposals – and stressing that the area could be used for activities other than football.

The papers state: “The initiative is aimed at addressing social and welfare issues, such as social isolation and inclusion, by linking with organisations such as Men’s Shed and offers the chance for local school children to experience programme and project management if or when the project is successful.

“Disabled and disadvantaged community groups will be considered first during the design phase, and the facility will not be limited to being used as a sports field.

“Any group that would benefit from using a safe, accessible, clean surface will be welcome to use the asset.

“The area of land proposed to be used for the development is classified as common good land and therefore available to be transferred from the council’s control so that
improvements to the playing surface can be made.”

Chairman of the charity, Dave Allen, said last month that the plans had “already triggered a real positive feeling among the community”.

He added: “I’ve received hundreds of supportive messages, great turnouts at meetings and encouragement from people, including local councillors, MSP Richard Lochhead and MP Douglas Ross – which shows the community is behind the facility.”

The trust recently announced that Volkerfitzpatrick and Mott MacDonald are two companies who have also pledged their support by offering to help build the pitch free of charge.

Elgin City Football Club previously tried to take control of the land for a new artificial training pitch in 2013.