Outline design plans for Rolls Sports Ground’s cricket pavilion come six years after it shut due to subsidence concerns, reports Marco Marcelline
Waltham Forest Council has revealed outline design plans for a shuttered cricket pavilion in Rolls Sports Ground, Chingford.
The design, which will be formally submitted to the council’s planning department later this autumn, comes six years after the pavilion closed because of subsidence concerns.
Through sucking up moisture in the soil, nearby trees had made the soil beneath the building’s foundation unstable, causing it to sink into the ground.
The redesigned clubhouse will follow the design of the old building but with more internal open space for community use, level access, improved kitchen and catering facilities, and accessible toilets with baby-changing facilities.
The council also promises it will provide “better views” of the cricket ground from a covered terrace area, which will have seating for people wanting to watch sports.
A pitched rather than flat roof as well as a ‘piled’ foundation will be new additions to the pavilion, while its hot water system will be provided by air source heat pumps, the council adds.
The new design plans follow a saga of delays and division over the rebuild.
In late 2023, the council announced it would use a £1.17m insurance award payout to tear down and replace the sports pavilion.
At the time, the council had aimed to deliver the new pavilion before 2025, with work starting on the site in June 2024.
However, the project was delayed and then scaled down to just a third of its original size after the council ran into build cost-inflation and identified difficult geological conditions and a Thames Water main near the pavilion.
The move prompted harsh criticism from pavilion users West Essex Sports Club who said the ongoing lack of a proper clubhouse was severely limiting the club’s appeal to new members.
But in a surprise move earlier this year, the council committed fresh funding to the project.
West Essex Sports Club welcomed the new design, saying: “We have worked closely with the council and the local councillors to get to this point and are delighted that everyone is fully supportive of delivering a replacement Clubhouse for the benefit of all the local community.”
The council is asking for community feedback on the clubhouse design – you can take part in the survey until Friday 2nd October here
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