BerkoAstro Project

Berkhamsted Raiders Community Football Club and Ashlyns School have joined forces to form a joint project team to provide Berkhamsted with a full-sized floodlit all-weather pitch and changing pavilion - The BerkoAstro Project.

There is a dedicated BerkoAstro web site.

Berkhamsted is short of an area the size of 26 full sized football pitches on which to play football. Even with this extra space, the town would not reach the Council’s desired provision of 2.07 hectares per 1000 population.

In Spring 2008, a planning application was submitted and after a lengthy consultation process involving local residents, Berkhamsted Town Council and Dacorum Borough Council, planning permission and listed building consent were finally granted for a full-sized floodlit all-weather pitch and changing pavilion.

The site of the proposed pitch and pavilion is owned by the school and currently forms part of the school’s playing fields at the rear of the school buildings.

Towards the end of 2008, the project team prepared a draft application to the Football Foundation, who we hope will be the major contributor to this £1million+ project. The Football Association have already given us their full support and indeed have advised us that we are one of only 2 priority projects for funding within Hertfordshire.  The Football Foundation have indicated that our project and business plans meet all their requirements and we could be eligible for a substantial grant provided that we can raise the other monies from other sources

The facility will be made available for use from 9am until 10pm Monday to Saturday and from 9am until 9pm on Sundays. The pitch will be available for use as a full-sized pitch for matches or training during the school day and will be divided into 3 mini pitches for training primarily after school and at the weekend. Whilst the pitch is designed for competitive football matches, it will also be used for many other sports such as hockey practice, rugby practice and fitness training to name a few.

The pavilion will encompass 4 changing rooms for use by teams using the all-weather pitch and also the existing grass football pitches on the school site.  They could also be made available for use with the other facilities at the school such as the tennis courts, netball courts, cricket pitches, athletics track and grass hockey pitches.