Pitch next to sewage works
Gazette, Wednesday 3 October 2007 David Arnold

A FOOTBALL club is getting ready to move to a new £l.5million home after councillors gave outline plans the go-ahead.
   Wickford Town Football Club will now move from their current 3.1 acre home to a new 35 acre facility to the north of Southend Road.
   It will include 14 pitches, changing rooms, floodlights and a police hut.
   Club secretary Richard Neville said: "We have 400 playing members. Wickford has grown over the last few years but we have not grown with it.
   "We are the only community club in the Basildon area. We need more pitches and are backed by Sport England and the Football Association.
   "We provide young people with a focus and this will re-address the shortfall of sports pitches in the area."
   But the news was met with anger by local residents who argued the land lies on a floodplain and is inhabited by badgers, foxes and rare birds.
   Sally Taylor, who lives in Wickford, said: "We fear the new pitches will be a stepping stone for further development.
   "There needs to be substantial parking to sustain the number of pitches and there are electricity pylons on the site.
   "This is completely unsuitable for children and it's right next to a sewage works."
   But planning services manager Clive Simpson said: "When the kids are playing football they will not be thinking about the smell, quite frankly"

• Plans to build 50 properties on the club's current home to the south of Southend Road have been put on ice after residents argued more and more open space was being eroded.

"When the kids are playing they won't be thinking about the smell" well done Clive!