£18m scheme drawn up for Kirkham

PLANS have been unveiled for an £18m development around a new football stadium on the Fylde.

The proposed park, on a 32-acre site off junction three of the M55 at Kirkham, includes community sports and education facilities as well as new retail, leisure and commercial space, and a new ground for non league AFC Fylde.

The club’s chairman David Haythornthwaite, who also runs Lytham vetinary supplies business the Tangerine Group, is behind the venture through a vehicle called Mill Farm Ventures.

The masterplan for the proposed development, which it is claimed could create 200 jobs, has been drawn up by architecture and design practice, the Frank Whittle Partnership (FWP) which has offices in Preston, Manchester and London.

The plans detail all weather pitches for community use, a supermarket, a distribution centre with associated office space, a 63-bed hotel, petrol station and a public. The new AFC Fylde stadium would have a capacity of 6,000 and include a modern 2,000 all-seater main stand with supporters’ bar, executive boxes and a function room.
 
Mr Haythornthwaite said: “The Fylde sports and science park is an ambitious investment in the local economy and has been put together by a team of experts from Lancashire.
 
“We anticipate we can create up to 200 new jobs over the next three years, many of them for local people. It will also provide local schoolchildren with a modern, state-of-the-art sports science facility as well as excellent community sports facilities which will be enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities.
 
“This is a well thought out development plan that will create superb facilities and help fuel the economic growth of the area.  If all goes to plan the first phase of the facility could open in September next year.”