Mill Farm Sports Village is a multi-sport facility located on the outskirts of the town of Wesham in the

Borough of Fylde The Borough of Fylde is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Lancashire, England. It covers part of the Fylde plain, after which it is named. The council's headquar ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Facilities include the Mill Farm football stadium, home to the football team

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wes ...

since 2016, and several 3G

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

pitches.

History

On 19 January 2008,

announced plans to move from their current ground at Kellamergh Park in the village of Warton to a then unnamed location, and in February 2010 unveiled plans for a new Community Sports Complex in

Wrea Green Wrea Green is a village in the Fylde borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about 2 miles west of Kirkham. Along with the village of Ribby, it forms the civil parish Ribby-with-Wrea. Wrea Green has approximately 1,600 residents, many of whom ...

; however, the planning application was rejected by Fylde Council in April 2012. On 3 September 2013, the club announced that new plans had been drawn up for a £18 million multi-sport development, Mill Farm Sports Village, on the outskirts of Wesham. As well as a 6,000-capacity

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

standard football stadium with supporters' facilities, the development would include community sports pitches, sports science facilities, and commercial opportunities including a supermarket.Mill farm goes before DCLG
Place NorthWest, 21 November 2014 The planning application for the stadium and associated facilities was accepted by Fylde Borough Council on 4 June 2014. The Preston architecture company the Frank Whittle Partnership Limited (the FWP group), who have been involved in the successful design and delivery of a number of other football stadiums in Lancashire FWP Group , Portfolio
retrieved 06 January 2020 was chosen to design the sporting village. The prime developer chosen was Warden Construction Limited, also of Preston. Construction began in March 2015 and was completed by the middle of 2016. The ground opened on 13 August 2016 Mill Farm Stadium
Stadium Database, retrieved 06 January 2020 for the club's first

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

match of the season against

Brackley Town Brackley Town Football Club is a Association football, football club in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at St James Park. The club won the FA Trophy in 2018. History Established in 1890, the club sp ...

. The final cost of the sports village was approximately £25 million.

Design and facilities

The main structure within Mill Farm Sports Village is the football stadium. The stadium is designed to hold up to 6,000 spectators in three stands. The main grandstand offers 2,000 seats and hospitality areas, and the east and south stands provide covered terracing. The stadium is decorated almost solely in black and white colours for its outer/inner cladding and combines a smooth, curved roof. Customer facilities include:AFC Fylde , Mill Farm
Mill Farm, retrieved 06 January 2020 * 290-seat sports bar ("Bradley's") featuring over 20 large-screen TVs * 80-seat restaurant with roof terrace * 40-seat cafe * conference and event facilities across 9 rooms

Other facilities

Other sporting facilities

As well as the football stadium, the Mill Farm Sports Village also contains artificial turf football and hockey pitches for community use, and a sports science centre.

Commercial facilities

Mill Farm Sports Village also contains an

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

supermarket, Euro Garages petrol station with a Spar,

Greggs Greggs plc is a British bakery chain. It specialises in savoury products such as baked goods, sausage rolls, sandwiches and sweet items including doughnuts and vanilla slices. It is headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is lis ...

bakery and

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

fast food restaurant. There are future opportunities for a 60-bed hotel on-site.

Prizes and honours

In 2017, the project team behind the Mill Farm Sports Village, composed of representatives from Warden Construction, Frank Whittle Partnership, Mill Farm Ventures and AFC Fylde, PWA Planning, Partington and Associates, Petit Singleton Associates, Preston City Council and Fylde Borough Council, was a regional winner in Local Authority Building Control North West Awards. The judges praised the winners for their: “innovative and creative solutions and building control professionalism that leads to safe, sustainable and high quality construction projects.”

Criticism

Not long after its opening in 2016, Mill Farm Sports Village was criticised by fans and community groups for failing to provide sufficient on-site car parking, and creating traffic problems for the surrounding roads. Following visits from its planning inspectors in 2018, the Fylde Council ruled that Mill Farm's parking facilities and AFC Fylde's traffic management plans were "inadequate".Not enough parking for football fans
Blackpool Gazette, 20 February 2019

References

External links

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Association Football Club Fylde
AFC Fylde Football venues in England Sports venues in Lancashire