The go ahead has been given to a smart-looking new ticket booth for the ground of a successful grassroots-level football club in Blackpool.
Squires Gate Football Club, of the North West Counties Football League Division One, plays home matches at The Skiddle Community Stadium at School Road, Marton.
The stadium, previously called the Brian Addison Stadium but re-named last year after a new stadium sponsor deal with ticketing platform Skiddle, has an average attendance of between 200 and 500 fans for home games.
However, for certain matches it can be higher and the record crowd was a 1,000 attendance, set during a pre-season friendly against Bury FC in 2024.
The club, formed in 1948 and whose team has been managed by Luke Evans since 2019, applied to Blackpool Council for retrospective planning permission for the new ticket booth and entrance to the playing ground.
The application has now been approved by planners.
Given its location within the Marton Moss Conservation Area, a Heritage Statement needed to be provided as part of the application.
It stated: “The proposal comprises a simply detailed single storey flat roofed ticket booth at the rear of the modern car park serving the football ground, well back from School Road, and away from positive areas of the Conservation Area.
“It is assessed as resulting in no harm to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area and so is compliant with policies and statutory requirements relating to the historic environment.”
An officer’s report concurred, saying: “The scheme is retrospective as the booth and tarmacked area was installed when the site was visited.
“It has been considered against the general principles for the protection of heritage assets and Conservation Areas and it is not considered that the scheme would be contrary to those principles. “
The report concluded that the scheme would also be broadly compatible with the requirements of MM1, relating to the planning policy’s guidelines on building design.
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