People living in the Staffordshire Moorlands are set to benefit from fresh investment into local football facilities. Leek Town have been awarded grant's from the Premier League, The FA, the Government’s Football Foundation and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, to upgrade their existing facility.

The Football Foundation is the UK’s largest sports charity and exists to improve the experience of playing football for everyone, by championing fair access to quality facilities.

This grant will enable Leek Town, which plays in thePitching In Northern Premier League Step 4, to install a new artificial turf pitch at their existing ground.

New and existing players and will enjoy access to the facility throughout the week which will represent a significant improvement on the existing grass pitch, whose use is limited by its nature.

Leek Town worked with the Football Foundation, Staffs FA and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council to secure a grant of over £500,000 towards the project.

Jon Eeles, Chairman of Leek Town, said: “The announcement of this grant, comes after several years of hard work by all parties, and is a significant moment for the Club and local community.”

‘The existing grass pitch has limitations in terms of usage, but a new 3G surface will greatly increase the access for new players and groups within the local community.”

Nicola Kemp, Head of Service Commissioning at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, said: “We’re delighted that our partnership approach to seeking funding for these new facilities in Leek has been successful.”

“The installation of the new 3G surface represents a real step-change in the facilities available to both Leek Town and the wider Moorlands community and we very much welcome this excellent news.”

Robert Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “This grant award to Leek Town towards installing a new 3G surface is great news for the local community.

“It will support people’s ability to play our national game locally and therefore help unlock football’s many benefits to physical and mental wellbeing. That’s why we’re committed to transforming the face of grassroots football facilities in this country. It’s therefore very welcome news to hear that this funding will support Leek Town in developing and installing a new artificial turf pitch at Harrison Park for their local community.

“The Football Foundation is working closely with our partners – the Premier League, The FA, government and Sport England – support facility development projects like this across the country over the next decade to transform our grassroots game and unlock the power of pitches.”

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About the Football Foundation
The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK. It champions and supports fair access to quality football facilities for everyone, regardless of gender, race, disability or place.

The Foundation receives money from the Premier League, The FA and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, through Sport England. This is matched with partnership funding and awarded as grants to create outstanding grassroots facilities that enable better games and attract more players, helping to transform communities.

Since 2000, it has awarded more than 17,600 grants to improve facilities worth more than £710m – including 942 artificial grass pitches, 6,426 natural grass pitches and 1,200 changing facilities. This has attracted an additional £940m of partnership funding – totalling over £1.6bn investment in grassroots football so far..

Through the Foundation, the Premier League, The FA, DCMS and Sport England have come together to create the National Football Facilities Strategy (NFFS) that will guide work over the next 10 years to transform many more local facilities. Local Football Facility Plans (LFFP) are being created to identify priority projects where demand is greatest, and the impact will be strongest and help stimulate the action required to deliver them.

Visit the Football Foundation for more information.