BLACKBURN With Darwen Council bosses considered closing football facilities at Witton Park before deciding to seek FA funding to help redevelop the pitches and changing rooms.

About £300,000 is to be spent bringing the changing rooms up to scratch subject to grant approval from the FA.

Leisure director Martin Eden said: "The changing rooms adjacent to the all-weather pitches at Witton Park are dilapidated and are not deemed suitable for the proposed user groups who will use the two new 3G football pitches which are to be developed on site.

"The newly refurbished changing facility will include classroom facilities to cater for the three main daytime user groups, namely; Blackburn College, Blackburn Rovers Community Trust and Creative Living Support Limited.

"The changing facility will also include a kitchen which will provide food and drink for the many users planned to use the site.

"A new disabled access ramp will ensure that the facility is Disability and Discrimination Act complaint and there will also be an external tidy up of the facility.

"The changing facility will also include a kitchen which will provide food and drink for the many users planned to use the site."

Plans to replace the 12-year-old artificial pitches were approved by the council’s planning and highways committee in November last year.

As well as potentially closing the facility, the council considered funding the redevelopment itself but decided against it.

Mr Eden added: "The proposed changing room refurbishment forms part of a larger scheme that will be part funded by the Football Association via the Football Foundation grant approval process and section 106 contributions.

"The tender estimates are that the changing rooms will cost in the region of £300,000.

"The tenders were within the budget available with the successful tender being lower in price than the proposed budget.

"The winning tender price will be submitted to the Football Association to their grants approval team panel who will consider the merits of the scheme and confirm match funding to finance the project.

"The new facilities will operate in accordance with a business plan which will ensure the sustainability of the facilities for many generations to come and will fulfil both the council and Football Association priorities."