NEW COLLEGE will be unveiling its new £800,000 all weather sports pitch next week.

The new facility will be situated on Buckhurst Fields behind the college and it was thanks to the Premier League and the FA Facilities Fund, which awarded a grant of £480,000, that the project was possible.

New College hope to bring their vision for the facility to life with the support of the Football Foundation and Wiltshire FA, who will help extend and maximise the opportunities for students and community groups to play sports in all weather conditions.

The football academy at the higher education facility will benefit from the arrival of the pitch, allowing them to host coaching qualifications and further develop their training programme.

There will also be dedicated office space available for coaching and development.

Ian Howell, football academy coach, said: “This new facility will enable the New College Football Academy to develop its training and games programme.

“Giving the students a state of the art 3G training facility will help them develop for the future years.

“It will also help with winter training and games and help to expand our programme to support the local community and students joining New College. “Soccer Excellence, who run football and multi sport courses at New College, in line with running the Football Academy, will be able to expand and develop further courses as well.”

Although the sports facility will be predominantly used by the football academy, it will be open for members of the public to use on weekday evenings and weekends, providing 45 hours and 180 bookable sessions per week for local teams and community groups.

The 3G pitch will host full size matches or can be split so that four games can be played at once.

Football will be the core sport played on the pitch, inviting community groups of all ages and abilities to use the space for training and matches, including walking football teams. The pitch will have a spectators’ area.

New College worked alongside the Football Foundation and the Wiltshire FA to compile a five-year Football Development Plan, which is a vision of how sport will be played on site with an emphasis on increasing participation.

One of the key partners will be Swindon Spitfires, who will use the facility for training.

The college will host a friendly match after the ribbon cutting ceremony, which will involve members of staff and external players. They will finish the event by hosting drinks and food for the celebration.