Goddington Park based Orpington Football Club was granted planning permission for a new community pavilion by Bromley Council on Thursday, 9 November 2023 to cheers of support from over 70 club members watching from the public gallery. The club successfully argued that their partnership with Millwall Community Trust will deliver health, sport and recreation for Bromley residents and warranted “Very Special Circumstances” to build on green space.

Following the Council’s decision, Orpington FC’s Chairman, Tom Shrubshall, said, "I am thrilled to announce that our dreams have become a reality. With great joy and gratitude, we celebrate the granting of planning permission for our new community clubhouse at Goddington Park. This milestone marks a significant chapter in our club's history, paving the way for a brighter future. Together, we will build more than just a clubhouse; we will forge lasting memories, nurture talent, and strengthen the bonds that unite us on and off the field. Let this be a testament to the power of perseverance, teamwork, and the unwavering support of our dedicated members. Here's to the exciting journey ahead and may our new community clubhouse stand as a beacon of pride for generations to come”.

Orpington FC have been working on developing plans for this new community facility for over four years. The club has spent £45,000 on consultant fees and volunteers have invested over 5,000 hours to achieve our aim of obtaining planning permission. In March 2020, we carried out a community consultation of over 650 Goddington Park users and neighbours. An overwhelming 92% agreed that the park needed a new pavilion.

Based on this broad consensus, Orpington FC Trustees and its Executive team sought pre-planning advice from Bromley Council and developed initial building plans. Once we received positive feedback on the building design and proposed location from the planning department, the club then worked with the Football Foundation and Sports Clubhouses, an architect experienced in developing community sporting facilities, to design the first version of our community pavilion. Working with planning, traffic, ecological and other consultants, the club submitted its first planning application in September 2021. The application was refused for not making a strong enough case for “Very Special Circumstances”, a requirement to build on a green space.

The club’s Executive team resolved to learn from this setback and persevere in the belief that our plans would benefit the local community. Working alongside the Football Foundation and our architect, we took on board the feedback from Bromley Council and adapted our plans, reducing the size of the building by 21% from the original specification. We developed a much stronger planning application through dialogue with current park groups and users as well as potential new pavilion users to demonstrate demand. We met local councillors and residents at an in-person community consultation in Orpington Fire Station’s community room and gained many letters of support. The most exciting aspect of this outreach was agreeing a partnership with Millwall Community Trust, contingent on developing the new pavilion.

Our proposed partnership with Millwall Community Trust will expand the facility’s sport and fitness offering well beyond the club’s 600 players and their families. The partnership offering will include:

• Free HAF (Holiday Activities Food) Holiday Camps in the school holidays to provide sporting activities and hot food for school children on free school meals.
• Walking Football sessions for over 45’s, developing their physical activity.
• Programmes for children with Downs Syndrome and other physical disabilities.
• Introduction of the Lions Living project to local children and their families to address climate change and nature loss. Local people have the power to address these environmental issues with ECO education programmes with children and their parents, making their locality planet-friendly, making space for nature, protecting the atmosphere and producing less waste overall.
• After School Sports Clubs.
• Work in conjunction with the Police and Community Groups to identify local anti-social behaviour hotspots and initiate intervention programmes.
• Initiate programmes around getting participants into work, CV writing, qualifications, interview planning, work experience and upskilling.

The improved community facility will deliver health creation and support community cohesion via activities offered by the club and Millwall Community Trust, Park Run, other fitness and wellness providers and local community groups.

Peter Varney, Executive Vice Chairman of Millwall Community Trust said: “Everyone at Millwall Community Trust is delighted to see planning consent granted for the new pavilion.

Millwall Community Trust has a track record in running programmes from Toddler Soccer right up to Walking Football for seniors and we are proud to partner with such a progressive and significant grass roots club as Orpington FC. These programmes will be delivered at the new site and will deliver such a positive outcome for residents and young people across the Borough, and we will work hard to play our part in using these programmes to tackle some of the key social issues we all face in our communities just as we are already doing so successfully in Lewisham, Southwark and Sevenoaks".

Surinder Manak, Managing Director of Manak Solicitors adds, “As the official club sponsors Manak Solicitors are very happy and excited to learn that Orpington FC has been granted planning consent to build a new pavilion. This is another amazing milestone in the history of the club. A new pavilion will prove to be an invaluable asset for the further development and progression of the club. Manak Solicitors has been supporting Orpington FC for a number of years and we hope to build on this partnership and continue to provide our support to the club in every way possible for as long the circumstances permit. We wish the club, its management team, coaches, players and all other individuals associated with the club many congratulations and wish them all the best of luck with their future plans.”

The Club is now looking forward to agreeing planning conditions and a longer lease and license in Goddington Park with Bromley Council, which will enable them to commence their fundraising effort to deliver this £2M building to the Orpington and Bromley community. If you are interested in contacting them about their efforts to fundraise, develop or deliver the new community building or the activities within the building, please contact orpingtonfc@gmail.com

NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Orpington FC

Orpington Football Club is a vibrant volunteer-led charitable club that supports the development of hundreds of young people and adults in Bromley, providing physical fitness, social interaction, character-building, valuable life skills and a place to belong through organised team sport in Goddington Park, Orpington. In addition to promoting lifelong habits of physical activity, we serve as a social hub within the community providing social connection and a sense of belonging to hundreds of players and their families.
Here are highlights of the club’s recent achievements and benefits:

• Coordinate 100+ regular volunteers who give over 40,000 hours annually.
• Maintain 17 pitches and the existing pavilion currently costing over £45,000 annually.
• Deliver weekly football training and games for over 450 players aged U7-U18.
• Provide approximately 60,000 hours of youth and 10,000 hours of adult fitness.
• Offer 1,500 hours of fun football for 4–6-year-old boys, 4–10-year-old girls and SEN children annually.
• Empower Young Leaders to develop life and employment skills through Saturday football training.
• Created an Alumni program to keep young adult players connected to the club.
• Train all coaches in FA First Aid, FA Safeguarding & Introduction to Coaching Football.
• Promote girls’ sport through development of four new girls’ teams (8 in total).
• Trained and develop twenty new Referees to support Club games.
• Keep Goddington Park active and busy which deters anti-social behaviour.

To find out more about Orpington FC, visit:
https://www.orpingtonfc.co.uk
https://twitter.com/Orpingtonfc
https://www.instagram.com/orpingtonfcofficial/
https://www.facebook.com/OrpingtonFootballClub
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/pavilion

Media enquiries:
Julie Covill
Trustee and Fundraiser
+447900 495305
orpingtonfc@gmail.com