Jeanfield Swifts' £2.4 million plans to upgrade training facilities
The Perth-based community club has 25 teams and over 450 players aged six to over 60, with over a third being female
Jeanfield Swifts Football Club is drawing up plans for an ambitious £2.4 million development of its training facilities at Riverside Stadium on Perth's Bute Drive.
The club's aim is to create "an accessible destination for football participants throughout the city".
The North Muirton-based community club has submitted a proposal of application notice to Perth and Kinross Council to create two full-size synthetic pitches and add seating, paths, landscaping and fencing.
Councillors were given the chance to raise areas for consideration - as part of the planning process - at a meeting of the Planning and Placemaking Committee on Wednesday, May 14.
Two public consultations on the plans were held at Riverside Stadium last month.
Earlier this year, Perth and Kinross Council committed £100,000 towards the project and £300,000 has been secured from the Jeanfield Swifts Football Club Endowment Trust.
Last month the community club submitted a bid for major funding from the Scottish Football Facilities Fund, administered by the Scottish Football Association.
The project's aim is to create an all-year-round facility which the club - which has 25 teams and over 450 players aged six to over 60 - can train on all-year-round.
Jeanfield Swifts currently has a grass pitch at Riverside Stadium - on long-term lease from Perth and Kinross Council - and effectively has exclusive use of three outside pitches through a seasonal pitch lets agreement with Perth and Kinross Council. The plan is to replace the stadium pitch with a synthetic pitch, add a synthetic pitch at the back, and return the remaining greenspace to Community Greenspace.
Currently, players are unable to train on the unlit grass pitches for six months of the year and end up training on facilities in the Perth and Kinross school estate such as Bertha Park High School's.
A club spokesperson said: "Our plans are to create a major new facility with two all-weather pitches and reconfigure existing built infrastructure to respond to the needs of a diverse user base. This will give us a year-round home and also free up space across the Perth and Kinross schools estate for other local clubs, as we currently dominate evening slots on the PKC pitches over the winter."
Approximately one third of Jeanfield Swifts' members are female, and the club has plans to grow this with the addition of a women's senior team in Tier Five of Scottish Women's Football next season.
The club also has a number of social programmes including: women's walking football, Welcome League for asylum seekers, holiday camps for local children and School of Football with Perth Grammar. It also aims to offer "turn-up-and-play" sessions after school, allowing free community usage of one of the pitches.
At Wednesday's meeting, Bailie Mike Williamson suggested, planning consideration be given to having "suitable noise kick boards or boards around the site to reduce the noise as balls hit the fences, etc.".
He added: "Also suitable drainage, landscaping and mitigations against light pollution from the floodlights."
Following the meeting a club spokesperson said: "Jeanfield Swifts believes in the power of football to change lives. We already have a big impact on many local youngsters and other community members, and this project will allow us to improve our offer to women and girls, people whose opportunities are limited by physical and mental wellbeing and others who are marginalised. Riverside25 opens the door to mass participation in healthy activity, improving social cohesion and reducing the burden on health services."
A detailed planning application for the development will be submitted to the council in due course.
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