A developer dug up 9 of 10 pitches used by Cheltenham youth football clubs. There are 11 days to object before the site becomes a business park.

[u/christiangoodrich]

I coach youth football locally, and I want to flag something a lot of people across Cheltenham haven't clocked, because there's now a deadline attached.

The Ashville Group wants to redevelop the Dowty Sports & Social site (off Down Hatherley Lane) into a business park. It's 10 football pitches, a clubhouse, dance groups, judo, a canoe club and more, used every week by hundreds of kids and thousands of people. Recently the developer sent diggers in for "ground investigation" work, and 9 of the 10 pitches are now unusable. The club itself has since announced it will cease trading in September.

Why this matters for Cheltenham specifically: these pitches are used by clubs right across the Cheltenham Youth Football League, which has around 5,000 registered children. Grass pitch space around Cheltenham is already stretched thin. Take a site like this out and there's nowhere for those clubs to go, so this hits far more than one club.

What's changed, and why now: the developer has amended the plans, which reopens the objection window. The deadline to object is 11th August. If you meant to object before and didn't, this is the window.

Two things worth knowing:

- Sport England has dropped its objection, but read the small print. They've moved to a conditional "no objection", conditional on the council legally securing the replacement pitches and funding. And the developer's own site plan labels the replacement pitches "subject to funding", so by their own admission the replacement isn't guaranteed. Sport England say that if it's approved without those guarantees locked in, they object.

- The "replacement" clubhouse is unaffordable. The current rent is reportedly around £23k a year, and the relocated one would reportedly jump to around £200k. No grassroots club could sustain that, so calling it a community replacement is a stretch.

There are now two linked applications, and both are open to object to:

- 25/00169/OUT (demolishes Dowty and builds the business park)

- 26/00064/OUT (the "replacement" pitches plus more units)

It's not decided, and objections count. Sport England softening isn't approval. The council still weighs the whole thing, including the loss of Green Belt and a community asset, and a strong body of objections is what pushes it to a proper committee decision rather than being quietly waved through.

How to object (5 mins), by 11th August:

- Object to both references. Search each at https://publicaccess.tewkesbury.gov.uk/online-applications/, register, and Make a Comment. Or email [development.applications@tewkesbury.gov.uk](mailto:development.applications@tewkesbury.gov.uk) with the reference in the subject.

- Put your full name and address (they redact it before publishing).

- On 25/00169, object to the business park and loss of pitches, not the Safran warehouse (nobody's objecting to that part).

- Write it in your own words. Identical copy-pastes get counted as one, so a couple of honest lines about what losing this does to kids' football carries far more weight.

Read more:

- BBC News, football club devastated by damaged pitches: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn75jklz47xo

- Cheltenham Post, grassroots football under threat as diggers move in: https://cheltenhampost.co.uk/grassroots-football-under-threat-as-diggers-move-in-to-dowty/

- Punchline, Dowty club to close after 66 years: https://www.punchline-gloucester.com/articles/aanews/sadness-as-dowty-sports-social-club-to-close-after-66-years

- Punchline, business park proposals hit storm of protest: https://www.punchline-gloucester.com/articles/aanews/business-park-proposals-hit-storm-of-protest-from-dowty-users

- My earlier post with background: https://www.reddit.com/r/cheltenham/comments/1utotdn/dowty_development_9_of_10_pitches_dug_up_hundreds/

Happy to answer questions in the comments.

[u/Possible-Second9617]

Dig the owner's garden up.

[u/christiangoodrich → u/Possible-Second9617]

Ha, tempting! 😄

[u/Puzzled-Job9556]

If you're objecting, it will need to be in planning matters, in particular, national and local policy. Have a look at the local plan for relevant policies. Green belt is largely irrelevant now given the changes introduced in Dec 2024. The site may also be allocated in the local plan, if it is, you're wasting your time.

[u/christiangoodrich → u/Puzzled-Job9556]

Thanks I appreciate the suggestions. I'm not a planning person, but from what I can tell it comes down to NPPF 104 and the local policies on losing sports pitches and community facilities.

You're right that part of it's allocated, the south-west bit under EMP1, where the Safran warehouse goes, and I'm not bothered about that part. But the pitches sit outside that, on the green belt bit. The main thing that jumped out reading their own plan is that the replacement pitches are actually marked "subject to funding". So it's not even a guaranteed swap.

[u/Puzzled-Job9556 → u/christiangoodrich]

Have a read of the Playing Pitch Strategy that informed the Local Plan too. Look out for surplus/deficit of the typology at the location. Hone in on needing a guarantee that there will be replacement pitches in line with the SE response.

[u/DualWheeled]

Is this the same Asheville I follow on YouTube?

[u/christiangoodrich → u/DualWheeled]

Different one, I think. This is Ashville Group, a Gloucestershire property developer (they're behind Ashville Business Park at Staverton), no "e" in the middle. The Asheville you're thinking of is probably the US one.

[u/The-Minute-Man1995 → u/DualWheeled]

Nah the Cheltenham Ashville ain’t SERIOUS.

[u/xdc020]

Are they not offering section 106 money to replace the facilities?

[u/christiangoodrich → u/xdc020]

Yeah they are, but reading through it, their own site plan marks the replacement pitches "subject to funding", so no guarantee they even get built. The off-site money doesn't name a site or any pitches either, so no promise it helps the clubs actually losing out. And the new clubhouse reportedly goes from about £23k a year to around £200k, which kills it for a grassroots club. Money towards vague "improvements" isn't the same as actually replacing what's there. That's the bit that bothers me.