Molesey Juniors Football Club given green light for new clubhouse
The new pavilion will bring the club’s existing facilities together under one purpose-built building.
The volunteer-run club will replace several ageing buildings at the Wilderness Sports Ground with a new purpose-built pavilion.
Molesey Juniors Football Club has been given the go-ahead to build a new clubhouse at its home in East Molesey.
Elmbridge Borough Council's planning committee has approved plans to demolish a number of smaller buildings at the Wilderness Sports Ground and replace them with a single, larger pavilion.
The new building will provide changing and clubhouse facilities for the club's current and future needs.
The plans received strong backing from the local community, with more than 100 letters of support submitted to the council.
Some residents did raise concerns about parking and traffic, particularly the impact of visitors parking on surrounding residential streets at weekends.
However, planning officers said a transport assessment found peak parking demand was not expected to increase because the number of matches held at the site would remain unchanged.
The site is within the Green Belt, but officers said the development would meet a strategic need for sporting facilities and that there were "very special circumstances" allowing the scheme to go ahead.
They also said replacing the existing buildings with one purpose-built facility would reduce the spread of development across the site.
Councillor Simon Waugh, Elmbridge's sports and leisure lead, described it as "exactly the sort of scheme" the council should be supporting.
Councillor Liz Laino also backed the plans, saying the club's current facilities are "very piecemeal" and don't properly meet its needs.
The new pavilion is expected to provide improved facilities for Molesey Juniors and help support the club's future at the Wilderness Sports Ground.