The council wants to upgrade the pavilion for Aztecs Cricket Club and open a public café using government ‘Pride in Place’ cash, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter
A new public café could open in St Chad’s Park as part of a proposed cricket pavilion refurbishment.
Barking and Dagenham Council wants to upgrade the pavilion, which is home to the Aztecs Cricket Club in Chadwell Heath.
Plans say the refurb will contribute “to the growth of community cricket in the borough”.
It comes after council leaders pledged £175,000 towards “urgent” repairs to the pavilion in January.
Aztecs Cricket Club formed in 1986 and leases the council-owned St Chad’s cricket pavilion as its home base, for its men’s, women’s and junior cricket teams.
However, plans for the refurbishment say its current facilities don’t meet the requirements of the England and Wales Cricket Board governing body.
Proposed upgrades include new changing rooms and showers, as well as a café in what is currently an “activity room”.
Council plans say the refurbishment will help to “secure a sustainable future for cricket in the borough and support “an established community sports facility that has long been central to local recreation and participation in the borough for many years”.
They add that the café could be run directly by Aztecs or sublet to the club, and would be open to cricketers, visitors and the public.
They say this will provide the club with “an additional income stream” helping to keep it going.
The outside of the pavilion will also be upgraded with painted brick, while the clock tower will get a digital clock and cricket scoreboard.
The council has submitted a planning application for the refurbishment. This can be viewed and commented on at the council’s planning website using reference number 26/01044/FULL.
Labour council leaders agreed to commit £175,000 towards the refurbishment in January.
It is one of twelve projects to benefit from a total of £2million towards improvements across the borough.
This is funded mostly by a £1.5m ‘Pride in Place’ grant from the government.
The rest is from strategic community infrastructure levy funds, which is a charge on developers of major construction projects.
Other projects to receive funding included £670,000 towards street cleaning, including a new “grab lorry” to clear up fly tips, and £75,000 towards refurbishing Leys pavilion in Dagenham for use by boxing company BoxUpCrime.
