City of Sunderland College has submitted plans for a sports pavilion

A top-class £2.5million football development has been earmarked for Wearside.
City of Sunderland College has submitted plans for a sports pavilion and 10 artificial, all-weather pitches and a full-size FA-standard field at its site in Durham Road.

The college has teamed-up with sports operator Goals to work on the development, which will be used by students, schoolchildren and the community as a whole.

Kathy Bland, assistant principal at the college, said: "This is a real win for the college. It’s a real coup, and in these very difficult times it is a really good news story.

"For the college and the local community to have excellent facilities provided by a private company is great."

The new pitches and facilities will be entirely paid for by Goals, which will also pay for all the maintenance, security and reception facilities.

A "community use agreement" will allow college students, schools and community groups to use the facilities for free at agreed times.

The news comes after college chiefs were dealt a blow when national funding for two new college sites in the city collapsed.

Ms Bland said the partnership with Goals would allow badly-needed facilities to be built despite the present problems with public finances.

The development will feature the latest 3G synthetic sport pitches, which are closer in appearance and feel to grass and are "ideal for young children."

The 10 small-sided sports pitches are primarily designed for football but will also be suitable for a range of other sports including netball, kwik-cricket, touch rugby and general sports training.

The sports pavilion will include a reception, changing rooms, toilets, a cafe and teaching rooms.

Ms Bland said: "As well as having all of those facilities, there will also be a full-size FA-standard pitch. Unfortunately, with that kind of pitch you have the weather to take into account and when it snows like this or we have torrential rain obviously you can’t use a grass pitch, whereas artificial pitches can be used 52 weeks of the year."

The move fits in with the council’s football strategy, which was approved this month to develop facilities in the city and unlock £1million of investment from soccer agencies.

Ms Bland said it would give college students an excellent leisure facility and encourage young people to be more active at a time where there were fears over health problems and obesity.

She said there had been a boom in the number of people playing five- and seven-a-side football, and Goals had offered to encourage students and others to take part in football leagues.

Ms Bland added that the college’s neighbours had been invited to look at the plans at a special drop-in session and there had been a very favourable response.

Planners and councillors will now consider whether or not to grant permission for the development.