Please sign this petition if you support the permission given to us by Seaford Town Council Facilities Committee to construct a perimeter fence around the football pitch to protect our facilities whilst still giving the public full access when fixtures are not being played.

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The Crouch Gardens are conveniently located in the centre of town. A short walk from the town centre and local amenities. The gardens host; Ornamental Gardens, Seaford Bowls Club, a children’s park, mini-football pitch (for youth football), Mercread Youth Centre, Seaford Town Football Club and a large open green space around the football pitch.

We pay for and maintain our clubhouse, 8 floodlights, sheltered seating stand, modern CCTV system and a store house. This year we signed a new 50-year lease with the town council securing our partnership with the town for many generations to come.

Because of the open nature of the park the football club suffers from vandalism and are we limited to what we can do due to fear of wasting money and effort on things that will be destroyed.

We have received council facilities committee approval to build an 8ft* fence subject to a successful planning application. The plan is to fence in the football playing area allowing us to control the pitch area and ensure it is safe and suitable for a club that plays at the standard of football we do.

*As a club we have decided to only build a 6ft fence as a compromise to ensure we are not obstructing any of our neighbours views.

Dog walkers are using the pitch area to exercise their dogs on a daily basis. Additional footfall damages the pitch and hazardous dog waste which is often left behind is a danger if gets into the eyes, nose or mouth of players and can mean a trip to the hospital. Dog urine is also toxic to grass and kills off patches of grass where a dog has urinated.

With thanks to the Council it has recently been agreed for us to take responsibility of pitch maintenance on a 1 year trial basis. The club will be investing it owns funds into the improvement of the playing surface and we are keen to ensure this money is not wasted due to improper use of the playing area.

The fence will protect our inclusive teams who train every Saturday morning. They are often interrupted by dogs running through their sessions and because of the additional needs of the players this is highly disruptive. Inclusive players can, and do, run from the sessions which our current barrier does some work in protecting against but a proper fence would give parents and coaches full peace of mind that their children are playing football in a secure facility.

On match days we rely on several volunteers to man the various entry points around the park, of which there are 5. This is a lot to ask from a team of volunteers as it is a lonely job detached from the goings on of the fixture.

The club loses money on entry fees as people can enter over low walls and unmanned gates. An appropriate fence would mean we can install 2 turnstiles to manage the flow of people into the match. This is typical of club grounds that play at our standard of football and something we do not currently have and can never have without a suitable fence.

As well as our own usage, last winter we partnered with local running club, Seaford Striders, to give them the benefit of our flood lights (at our own cost) to host their youth training sessions while the evenings are too dark. This is so their youth section has a safe space away from the roads to run and train. The proposed fenced area will still give them ample space to train if they do wish to use our floodlights in future winters.

Seaford Bowls Club benefits from being in a gated area where people are free to walk through if they need to but are diverted around to keep the sports facilities semi-private which is the same as we are asking for at the football club.

We would like to build an 6ft fence around the boundary for the pitch highlighted in red below. This fence will have open gates which the public are free to walk through but we would ask that when walking through the fenced area that dogs are kept on leads to avoid spoiling the pitch. This fence will mean that the public still have free use of the park as they do now but gives us a boundary we can control and protect like the bowls club currently has.

We have detailed a comparison of our football facility versus those of other clubs that play at our standard of football across Sussex & Surrey. Shockingly we are the only club out of 38 regionally that does not have an enclosed facility and we are the only club that plays in an open park.

A comparison to our immediate neighbours that play at the same standard of football:

Newhaven FC: Enclosed Ground
Peacehaven FC: Enclosed Ground
Hailsham FC: Enclosed Ground
Saltdean FC: Enclosed Ground
Seaford Town FC: Open Park

Even from a point of pride in our town we should have comparable facilities to our neighbours in surrounding smaller towns and villages.

Hopefully you are able to see how important this is to the successful development of the club and what we can provide to the town with its approval. Without the fence the club will be at a ceiling of growth and unable to progress. As a non-profit we do not have the funds or ability to seek a new location in which to build an enclosed facility, so this is our only option if we are to have any hope in progressing. Putting restrictions on the future success of a sports club will limit volunteers inspiration, hinder the clubs ability to attract new players and limit the development of skills of youth players in the town.

Importantly this can all be achieved at no cost to the town council. Being a county league football club we have access to the Football Foundation (https://footballfoundation.org.uk/looking-for-funding which provides grants to clubs to improve facilities. We will be able to secure 70% of the funding through this channel and raise the remaining ourselves. We have recently drawn funds from this scheme to repair our flat roof with the help and support of the Town Council.

Thank you for your support!

SIGN THE PETITION BY CLICKING HERE