A new community leisure facility that will become “a beacon for South Oxhey” is a major step closer and the future of a football club is set to be safeguarded after nearly £1million of funding was agreed.
Members of Three Rivers District Council’s policy and resources committee last night voted in favour of awarding a £966,000 community infrastructure levy grant to replace Oxhey Jets FC’s grass pitch with a new full size 3G surface and extensive renovations to the Combined Counties League side’s clubhouse and changing facilities.
As well as being a huge boost for Jets because it means all of their sides – from the first team to youth sides – will be able to train on the new pitch, the wider community is also set to benefit from having an artificial playing surface in South Oxhey again.
This follows the sudden closure of the Sir James Altham 3G pitch in Little Oxhey Lane in April over health and safety concerns.
The whole project will cost around £1.5m but following the success of their application to Three Rivers, subject to it being ratified at a full meeting of the council, Jets are now able to apply to the Football Foundation for the majority of the remaining funding. It is anticipated this will also be successful.
Thumbs up: (l to r) Jets veteran and club project helper Tony Marren, club president Colin Lawson, John Elliott, Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, Jets chairman Phil Andrews and Dave Barnes (Image: Anthony Matthews)
“It means the world to me because Jets do,” said delighted Jets general manager John Elliott, who founded the club in 1972. “I firmly believe in Oxhey. I’ve never moved away from Oxhey, I’ve always supported everything to do with the local area.
“Even when we’ve had opportunities to move on to different clubs at different levels, I’ve always stayed loyal to Jets so to deliver a future that you know will survive means the world to me.”
The site is owned by Herts County Council but has been leased to Three Rivers. This is due to expire in April 2025 and renegotiations have been taking place between the club and county council, which is taking control of the lease back.
Three Rivers has been helping with these talks and council leader Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst said: “Giving money back to the community with the community infrastructure levy is very important. We’ve levered that out of developers and we want to put it back into the community for future generations and particularly here in South Oxhey and for Oxhey Jets, this is a vital facility in an area that desperately needs it.
“This will pump-prime it, nearly a million pound here, they’ll be able to get more money from the Football Foundation and a future lease with the county council we’ve worked together with Oxhey Jets on for the next 25 years plus.
“This will see out my term as leader of the council and many other people but it will be a beacon for South Oxhey for the future and I know it will be enjoyed by younger generations to come.”
The grant is a huge boost for the club and South Oxhey community (Image: Anthony Matthews)
Mr Elliott believes the council grant is the biggest thing to happen to the club since the current clubhouse was built 25 years ago and it will allow virtually everything – from boilers and the ceiling to the flooring and toilet facilities – to be replaced, while the new pitch will allow the club to have girls and women’s teams for the first time.
Joint first-team manager and Under-18’s manager Dave Barnes also believes an artificial pitch will be a big boost to Jets’ future.
“We’ve seen what it’s done at other club in terms of bringing people into a club, developing players, having a surface you can play on all year round is everything to us, playing the brand of football that we do in the first team and reserves,” he said. “That’s proven because every time we go away and play on astro our football is far better than it is on grass.
“But in terms of the actual club, with income, local support, it means everything having an astro.”
