Bradford Park Avenue £5.5m refit edges closer to reality

Bradford Park Avenue has moved a step nearer a rise from the dead nearly 20 years after it staged its last county match after the completion of a feasibility study designed to provide a vibrant community ground aimed primarily at players of South Asian background and also capable of reaching first-class standard.

The proposed £5.5m scheme would be a partnership between Sport England, the ECB, Yorkshire and Bradford Council with the work split into five stages until its potential completion in 2019.

As part of work funded by Sport England, the ECB targeted Bradford as one of five cities in which to engage more closely with South Asian communities. But reflecting the challenges faced in inner cities, Bradford Council's playing pitch strategy, released in November last year, suggested there is a shortage of 18 cricket grounds across the district, set to rise to 25 venues by 2021.

Proposals are that Park Avenue could also host elite women's and disability cricket, and potentially some Yorkshire first-team games. Mark Arthur, Yorkshire's chief executive, has confirmed that the club intends to bid to host a franchise at Park Avenue in the new Women's Super League, set to start in 2016.

"The aim is to create a first-class ground, but it will be a ground primarily for the community," Arthur said. "It's a unique concept, and would give Bradford national and international recognition for using cricket as a positive vehicle for social inclusion.

"There is history and tradition at Park Avenue, and this is a fantastic opportunity for regeneration in the heart of what is a growth city."

Cricket was first played on the Park Avenue site in 1872, but as Yorkshire were forced to concentrate on the demands of Headingley, the county reluctantly abandoned it in 1996, by which time it had already fallen into a state of disrepair. It is still used for some local league cricket.

Subject to funding, work is provisionally scheduled to begin in the New Year, with the aim of having the facility up and running next summer. The five stages would be as follows:

• Eight practice wickets and nets installed on the site of the former Bradford Park Avenue football pitch, situated next to the ground, including changing pavilion, car parking, security fencing, and CCTV.
• Upgrading the Park Avenue surface to first-class level; renovation of scoreboard and groundsman's store.
• New Community Pavilion, with changing rooms fitted to county cricket standards, a restaurant with a capacity for 250 diners, and more than 1000 new seats for spectators. This phase is estimated at £2.5m.
• £1m revamp of the east side of the ground, with repairs to existing terraces and boundary walls, and provision of more than 4,000 new seats.
• ECB-standard floodlights installed around the ground at a cost of £1.35m.

Yorkshire's website quoted an ECB spokesman as saying: "These are exciting plans which we are working on in partnership with Yorkshire CCC and Bradford Council. They will be of enormous benefit to clubs and leagues in the local area, and form an important part of ECB's wider efforts to support South Asian cricket communities nationwide.

"The plan is for the venue to host some elite games of women's and disabled cricket, and there may be the chance of the odd Yorkshire game, particularly in 2019 when Headingley has such a busy international schedule. It would be extremely useful for us to have that facility in Bradford."