Goole Town Council, together with the Goole Town Deal Board, has secured grant funding from the Football Foundation for more than £2.2 million towards plans to refurbish the town’s Victoria Pleasure Ground.
Via the Football Foundation, the Premier League, The Football Association and the Government will provide 31 per cent of the total £7,266,385 million cost of the project.
The home of football in Goole for more than 100 years, the Victoria Pleasure Ground (often referred to as the VPG) is home to the town’s semi-professional football side Goole AFC (Goole Association Football Club), which plays in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, along with Goole Vikings Rugby Club, a semi-professional rugby league side competing in the Yorkshire Men’s League. Several other local sports clubs and groups also use the VPG.
The site is owned by East Riding of Yorkshire Council (having formerly belonged to Boothferry Borough Council) and is leased to Goole Town Council for a 30-year period. No longer fit for purpose, it is in need of investment if it is to remain open. Goole Town Council currently subsidises the VPG to the tune of £32,000 per year, just to keep the venue open and operating.
Fears for the long-term viability of the ground prompted the Goole Town Deal Board to prioritise the site’s redevelopment as part of its strategic proposals to reinvigorate the town centre by allocating it a share of the town’s £25 million in Town Deal funding.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government made some early funding allocations to towns involved in the Town Deal process, which had to be spent by a strict deadline. Some of this money was used to install energy efficient LED (light emitting diode) floodlighting at the Victoria Pleasure Ground, helping to reduce the running costs of the venue and making it more environmentally-friendly. This new lighting will also be incorporated into the redevelopment plans.
Councillor Barbara Jeffreys, who represents Goole Town Council on the Goole Town Deal Board, said: “This is wonderful news for the Victoria Pleasure Ground, and for the town as a whole. The funding award from the Football Foundation has required an enormous amount of work and its success demonstrates the strength of our shared commitment and vision to secure the VPG’s long-term future and enable it to serve many more people and organisations.
“To know that our local sports clubs, together with the hundreds of children and young people who are part of the various grassroots teams in Goole, will soon have sporting facilities that we can all be proud of is just the best news. The late Councillor Josie Head, together with Councillor David Jeffreys, were huge ambassadors for the VPG and I feel proud we are close to making their wish to safeguard its future a reality.
“In fact, this grant funding allocation means that we are able to deliver a sports stadium that will be far superior to anything that we could have envisaged originally. It will be something the town can be proud of, both for people now and for generations to come.”
Phil Jones, Chair of the Goole Town Deal Board, said: “From the very beginning, we’d always set out to secure match funding from the Football Foundation for the VPG project but, until now, that was not a given. The Board is delighted to learn that Goole Town Council’s grant application to the Football Foundation has been successful and everything is now finally in place for us to be able to proceed.”
Councillor Anne Handley, Leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “This is yet another major investment in Goole! We’re absolutely delighted that the Football Foundation saw the enormous potential of refurbishing the VPG and understood the many benefits that it will bring to so many local people, and to the town centre as a whole.”
Robert Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “The Football Foundation is working closely with our partners – the Premier League, The FA and Government – to transform the quality of grassroots facilities in England by delivering projects like this across the country.
“Good quality playing facilities have a transformative impact on physical and mental health and play an important role in bringing people together and strengthening local communities.
“This grant award to Goole Town Council and Goole Town Deal Board towards to revamping the facilities at Victoria Pleasure Ground is fantastic news for the local community and will help give more people access to a great place to play.”
A business case developed for the site estimates that the proposed improvements will increase the number of visits to the VPG by 376 per cent, from 13,000 to 63,000 per year. It also forecasts that the VPG will become financially viable within three years of the improvements being carried out, with no need for Goole Town Council to subsidise it beyond that.
Goole Town Deal developed the visionary business case for the Victoria Pleasure Ground, working in close conjunction with Goole Town Council and specialist consultants Steve Wells Associates, who bring their vast experience of developing top class sporting venues nationally to the project.
Planning permission for this project was secured in 2023 and work is due to start this year, with completion in 2025.
