Woburn & Wavendon Football Club has undertaken the considerable task of ensuring the new playing fields at Wavendon Heights are made safe and playable. At just over 2 hectares the site, adjacent to Newport Road and Dankworth Way, was delivered by Milton Keynes City Council as public open space provision for the new developments of Glebe Farm, Eagle Farm South and Church Farm. However this provision fell well short of the originally promised 8 hectares plus, and has also suffered from significant subsidence of drainage channels and general shrinkage making most of it unsafe and unplayable. With no sign of any remedial work being enabled and huge new demands for pitches from an ever growing population, we were faced with no other option but to fund the work ourselves.
“Our community club has grown rapidly over recent years, with more than forty mixed, girls and boys teams/sessions for all abilities from 4 years of age to adult. However we have faced the real prospect of some teams having no playing facilities at all” commented Asad Asif, WWFC Chairman. “The dangerous state of the Wavendon Heights pitches sadly means that for the first time, two of the region’s oldest and largest tournaments have had to be cancelled, with all the disappointment and financial implications this brings”.
We already cut and maintain the grass at both Wavendon Heights and Wavendon Recreation Ground, and have now funded the necessary works to make Wavendon Heights safe for use, not only for football but for general community use and enjoyment. To date and before these latest works, we has invested more than £20,000 and contributed hundreds of volunteer hours towards pitch maintenance and repairs. Despite these significant efforts, it became clear that the problems at Wavendon Heights were far more extensive than first anticipated and would require substantial additional investment, specialist machinery, and large-scale remedial work to properly address the underlying issues. As the ground conditions deteriorated, concerns over general safety meant the football club had no option but to reduce its usage of the playing fields. Following careful consideration, the Club agreed to undertake comprehensive remedial works to help restore the pitches. This has included the use of 210 tonnes of premium Rootzone material to fill the drainage lines, alongside the application of a 4mm top dressing across the entire playing surface.
The total cost of these latest works is £23,800, fully funded by Woburn & Wavendon FC. Club Chairman, Asad Asif, commented that while this represents a considerable investment for the club, we are very hopeful about the outcome and the long-term benefits these improvements should bring in helping to rectify the current ground conditions and secure the future quality and safety of
the playing fields for the whole community. “We are delighted to get this vital work underway, and hope to see Wavendon Heights playable again in the autumn. However this will still not address the overall deficit in the area’s playing field provision. A proposed extension to Wavendon Recreation Ground is urgently needed, not only to accommodate growing demands for community football, but also other sports such as cricket. Without this increased provision, local people (especially youngsters) of all abilities and backgrounds will suffer, inevitably having negative consequences for well-being, health, integration and anti social behaviour.”
