AN indoor cricket training hall will be built at Grainville Playing Fields, if plans are approved.
If passed, the 40m x 10m two-lane facility will be built to the north-east of the cricket pitch, close to the bowling centre.
Plans for the year-round centre have been submitted by Jersey Cricket, which states that the new space will support Jersey’s international cricket ambitions. The organisation adds that rainwater captured off its roof will help maintain the nearby playing fields during increasingly dry summers.
Jersey Cricket said that it currently has no dedicated indoor facility and relies on limited access to general-purpose sports halls shared with other island sports. It adds that this has restricted consistent training for junior, senior and international squads and is increasingly hampering Jersey’s continued progress on the international cricket stage.
Supporting the application, Jersey Sport chief executive officer David Kennedy said: “The facility is a necessary investment to support the ongoing development of the Island’s highest performing players, providing consistent access to enhanced training and preparation environments.
“This requirement is underscored by Jersey’s strong record of international achievement, delivered despite longstanding constraints in specialist facility provision and the inherent challenges faced by a smaller island population when compared with larger cricketing nations.”
9X5 Architects, which has drawn up the plans, said that the lightweight ‘tensile’ structure would provide two full-length cricket training lanes while minimising foundations, ’embodied carbon’ and disturbance to the surrounding landscape.
It said: “The environmental strategy includes a 20,000-litre underground tank that will collect rainwater from the roof for irrigation of the cricket square and outfield during hot summer months. This will reduce reliance on mains water and help maintain the playing fields during periods of prolonged dry weather.”
It added: “The proposal is particularly timely following the widespread drought and exceptionally dry conditions experienced across the UK this summer. By capturing rainfall when it is available, the scheme plans ahead for the likelihood of hotter, drier summers and turns the new facility into a positive environmental resource for the wider site.
“Native hedgerow planting, new trees, natural stormwater management and the reuse of excavated material within a landscaped berm also form part of the proposals.”
Plans for an indoor cricket hall were first proposed next to Farmers Field in St Martin during the Bridging Island Plan debate in 2022, which would have involved a rezoning of land, but these were rejected by States Members at the time.
