Our vision was to return to our hometown of Sale and create a multi-sports community hub to inspire future generations and positively impact Sale through additional health, education and social inclusion programmes.
Trafford Council has today announced that it will not be supporting further pre-planning application consultation on the proposals for Crossford Bridge Community Sports Village. This means the second phase of consultation, where detailed plans were due to be shared with the community to offer another opportunity to provide feedback, will not be going ahead.
Our fanbase, in Sale and beyond, have been extraordinary in the support they have shown throughout this initial consultation. We would like to thank every fan, resident, sponsor and business who has invested significant time in helping to shape these plans.
This consultation has given us even more confidence in our future ambitions. We have made no secret that our long-held ambition is to return our elite men’s and women’s teams to our hometown of Sale, and to further strengthen our community ties. The learnings and partnerships developed throughout this exercise have moved us forward significantly. Although disappointed by this political decision in the short term, we look forward to delivering a solution in the future that puts our great fanbase and City region at the heart of it.
It’s important that the feedback and thinking we have gathered so far to create a multi-sport community hub isn’t wasted. If you want to show your support for the aims behind this project, and for Sale Sharks to be back in Trafford in the future, email feedback@crossfordbridge.co.uk, copying in the Leader of Trafford Council Andrew.Western@trafford.gov.uk
An update from Crossford Futures:
We would like to thank every one of the thousands of residents, business leaders, councillors and sports club members that took part in the initial consultation. Whilst we understand the political decision that has been taken not to support the next stage by our friends at Trafford Council, we are extremely disappointed that we will not be able to share the detailed plans that we have been developing collaboratively with the local sports clubs and community over the last few months – we know many members of the local community were looking forward to seeing these.
We are convinced that these plans would have attracted support throughout Sale and the wider borough, especially as they support the aspirations and address the concerns raised in the initial consultation. We are hopeful that the thinking developed during this wide-ranging consultation will not be wasted and will come to benefit the community and Sale Sharks at some point in the future.
We were encouraged by the significant numbers of residents in Sale who supported our objective to ensure that these plans benefitted the entire community. This investment, approaching £100million, would have not only delivered Crossford Bridge Community Sports Village but would have also driven wider regeneration of the area including improvements to transport links. We truly believe this is a lost opportunity to inspire more active lives, meaningful job creation and acting as a catalyst for the local economy.
We would like to thank all of the national governing bodies for their help and guidance on the inclusion of a new floodlit 4G pitch, new running track, new sprint track and further enhanced facilities such as grass pitches which can be used all year round and a new state-of-the-art community pavillion within our plans. The feedback from the local community also ensured that a cycling and teaching hub, as well as walking and running routes, café, community space and children’s climbing and activity centre formed part of the proposed scheme. Finally, the health teams within Trafford, alongside local educational establishments, were fundamental in planning wellness and education facilities to complement the social inclusion programmes developed by Sharks Community Trust.
