Mill Lane Playing Fields and Pavilion Upgrade Project
Headley Parish Council has been working on the major project to improve the Pavilion and the Mill Lane Playing Fields for some considerable time. Much of that funding has come from the levy paid by developers in this and nearby parishes known as the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 agreements made between developers and local authorities. This has enabled us to provide three new Youth football pitches which were completed for the 2024/5 season. In addition, the Bowls Club and Tennis Club facilities have been upgraded with help from the clubs.
In January 2025, Headley Parish Council appointed Flint Construction Ltd. to undertake the Pavilion Refurbishment Project at a value of £1,018,920.00 – this will be to upgrade the Pavilion building itself. The building has had a lot of use since the original construction. It was showing signs of wear and tear, and facilities needed to be expanded to cater for current and future use. The upgrade included:
- New and more welcoming entrance area, with an extended balcony above
- Extending the Main Hall to enable enhanced sporting activities and community usage
- Additional storage capacity for sports club users
- Upgrade and extend changing rooms
- Total upgrade of all the public toilet areas
- Improved kitchen facilities and upgrade to the bar facilities to better serve sports club and community usage
- Improvement of water mains and drainage infrastructure to better serve sports pitches and changing areas
The construction phase of the project ran from mid-April 2025 to early 2026. The next phase will be the final fit-out inside the building, which is expected to take four to six weeks. During this time the Pavilion will be closed. The playing fields remain open and will continue to be used by the resident sports clubs, and there will be continued public access for recreation and dog walking. On Bank Holiday 4th May, we will have a formal Opening Ceremony which will be combined with the Here’s Headley show on the playing fields. Do come along and see our amazing new pavilion!
We are keen to see wider use of the building and facilities in addition to active sports – in fact this was a condition of the grant! Examples include coffee mornings, book club, mothers and toddlers group, club meetings, exercise, u3a etc. If you have ideas about how the Pavilion could be used or you are part of an organisation that could make use of the new facilities, please let us know on this link:
We will continue to apply for grants to cover additional facilities we would like to include later. As we make progress with the design and build of these new facilities we will be adding further news items to this website.