The Didsbury football club that produced Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard will revamp a corner of the Merseybank playing fields that has become a ‘hotspot’ for vandalism and drug-dealing.
Fletcher Moss Rangers football club won planning permission for a huge refurb to their old clubhouse.
It will be knocked down and replaced with a new centre including a cafe and recreational rooms that the club hopes will benefit the whole community.
A speaker for the Rangers told the town hall’s planning committee earlier this month that when empty, the area had become a ‘hotspot’ for vandalism and anti-social behaviour, with unauthorised motorbikes on the site becoming an ‘annoyance to the local community’.
She also said that there had been reports of drug dealing at the site.
The club, which has been based at the site for twenty years and an alumni list including England stars Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, was asked by the council to redevelop the site.
But developers said its existing building has ‘prominent unappealing features’ including window bars, anti-climb barbing and poor accessibility.
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The new scheme, which was signed off last week by the council’s planning committee, includes a cafe, community hall, meeting room and changing facilities for teams and officials.
Developers also hope that it will provide ‘far more for the club and community than the current building ever has’.
Although it was approved by the planning team, the response from local residents has been mixed.
Some nieghbours welcomed the move, saying it would create a community hub and have a positive impact on local children.
But other raised concerns about the impact of parking on the site.
Didsbury West councillor John Leech said that there is already ‘inconsiderate parking’ on matchdays - mainly by away fans, he said - and both he and his ward colleague Richard Kilpatrick called for marshalling on matchdays.
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