Mansfield Town FC buys land to expand academy and address car parking issues

The club has bought land from Nottinghamshire County Council to extend its Radford & Hymas Academy in Woburn Lane, Pleasley.

The extension will bring an additional covered pitch and new car parking facilities as the club looks to expand its service to more young players.

The Stags bought the initial plot of land for the main facilities in 2016 under the official naming of Mansfield Town Developments Ltd (MTDL).

It allowed the League Two club to develop the RH Football Academy and training ground used by professionals, academy students and the community.

The county council sold that unadopted land to the club seven years ago ahead of the Stags officially opening the academy in September 2018.

It has a full-sized and floodlit 3G pitch, three full-sized grass pitches and a mini-pitch for use at weekends.

Its pavilion includes four dressing rooms, showers, physiotherapy rooms and a function room, as well as two classrooms, offices and an education hub.

Now even more land has been sold by the Conservative-run authority to help the club expand the facilities further.

The new land, which sits across the road from the academy, is about 5.5 acres in size.

Farmilo Primary School is based next to the academy and uses part of the new land as an informal drop-off and pick-up area during term times.

The football academy also uses this land to “alleviate parking problems” at its site, the council adds.

It’s classed as allotment land and was previously suggested for housing, but this option was never taken up.

Now both the council and the football club have confirmed it has been sold to allow the academy expansion to come forward.

The club says the sale is a “big step” towards its “commitment to youth development and community engagement”.

And council papers reveal the club will bring a new covered pitch to provide extra facilities, as well as space to address “problematic” car parking.

Council papers say: “MTDL approached the council with a view to acquiring the land to enable an extension of their facilities to include a covered pitch and additional car parking.

“The use of the facility in evenings and weekends is extensive and car parking can be problematic.

“The purchase of the land will, subject to planning permission, enable additional parking to be provided.

“[It will also enable the] development of a covered pitch to provide additional playing pitch and training capacity to help meet the ever-increasing demand for use of the facilities.”

The land sale was approved by Councillor Keith Girling (Con), the council’s cabinet member for economic development and asset management, last week.

On the sale, a Mansfield Town spokesman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We are delighted with the land sale.

“Expanding our academy is a big step towards our commitment to youth development and community engagement.

“We look forward to welcoming more young players to our ranks and seeing the positive impact of our new and expanded facilities.”