Following on from the completion of the Leyton Urban Cricket Centre pilot scheme earlier this year, a planning application has now been submitted for the next Urban Cricket Centre pilot in Bradford.
The cricket centre will have two indoor cricket lanes and will be based at the well used Parkside Sports Centre in West Bowling, to the south of the city. In addition to the cricket lanes that will be a multi-purpose space providing opportunities for dance and aerobic type exercise, the project will also feature a new gym, studio and community café. The scheme will completely transform the sport centre: it is designed to allow it to offer a far wider range of activities, increase utilisation across the site and thereby its bolster its financial resilience. The scheme is the second pilot in the ECB’s Urban Cricket Centre programme, linked to their Inspiring Generations strategic plan and the South Asian Action Plan. Potential funders include the ECB, Power to Change, Sport England amongst others.
The Bradford pilot, differs from the Leyton scheme in that the host organisation in Bradford is a charity, Bradford Trident. Leyton is hosted by a public authority, London Borough of Waltham Forest. The pilot programme was designed to evaluate a minimum of three Urban Cricket Centre sites hosted by different types of organisation ie public, charity and private and or faith organisation before committing funds to a wider role out. The third pilot site is yet to be announced.
