A POPULAR cricket club’s plans to undertake an ‘exciting’ transformation by adding another floor to its clubhouse are set to go ahead.

Cherry Tree Cricket Club in Preston Old Road, Blackburn, submitted plans to build a function room, a sponsors lounge, home and away changing rooms, showers and umpire changing rooms in a major refurb last year.

The proposals, set to cost more than £300,000, follow the club’s recent resurgence and large increase in club membership, which has reached 1,400 members.

And now planning officer Martin Kenny has recommended that the application be approved when Blackburn with Darwen Council’s planning and highways committee meets on Thursday next week.

The proposals include creating an extra 24 car parking and three new disabled spaces.

They also include a balcony overlooking the cricket pitch, a kit store and a dedicated changing area for the Blackburn Road Runners.

Within a planning document, a spokesman on behalf of the club said the function room, which would have a dance area and stage, would be used for weddings and funerals.

The ground-floor bar, which was refurbished last year, would not be affected by the work.