Stadium Development Update by Chairman Mike Swift

With the new year just a couple of weeks old our loyal supporters can face an exceptionally interesting 2019 and can see our strategic ambitions transitioning into delivery plans.

On the field our new manager has settled in and the playing squad are enjoying the league success their talent and ability offers. We can’t relax there’s some way to go before spring arrives with it’s weather changes, the summer break and planning for 2019/20’s football campaign.

Off the field, Thursday lasts landmark decision by West Lancashire Borough Council’s Planning Committee provides the way forward to our new permitted stadium and keeps us in the village where our considerable heritage has been earned.

The residual use plans for Victoria Park as submitted have been thoroughly examined, the statutory consultations were quite rightly extensive and all comments are in the public domain along with the professional town planners recommendations to elected members of the council.

The positive development decision for the future of Victoria Park means that a raft of contracts can move from being in draft with agreed in principle into agreed status with completion dates. Construction Quotations and Estimates will be firmed up into actual cost projections.

Genuine football supporters will have noted the contingency we agreed with the FA & North West Counties Football League before this current 2018/19 season commenced. We changed the size of the traditional playing surface at Victoria Park and closed a large part of the spectator facilities at Victoria Park to accommodate the previously approved new highway’s construction, that will facilitate the resulting civil engineering & new stadium building works.

Surveyors ground markings are dotted around our home ground, they were installed in the early part of last year during the key critical early investment work.

The next phases will bring some change to village life and also bring positive impacts on the football club, with the directors and senior management’s total support we’ll keep any disruption to the minimum. As soon as practicable, we will publish for supporters and our neighbours information key dates here on our website.

‘Please Excuse Our Dust’ while we’re building the new sporting facilities and homes in the village, a special souvenir match day programme is being prepared to commemorate the importance of 2019’s milestone dates at Victoria Park. This will take a little time to fully draft as I’m particularly concerned many who contributed to the strategic plan going forward are today sadly no longer with us, their work will not go unrecorded.

Enjoy the football at Burscough FC, we look forward to seeing you soon and please don’t hesitate to have a chat with Steve our hard working General Manager, Alan our Match Day Secretary, Dave of Director of Football, Martin our Director of Finance or myself....... Come on The Greens, The Linnets are flying.