THE future of plans for a Accrington Stanley's new training ground and pitches in Read will be discussed next week.

Members of Ribble Valley's planning and development committee are set to meet on Thursday night to talk about the change of use from agricultural land to a new changing room and surrounding fields to form three full size football pitches and two undersized training pitches at the land off Whalley Road.

The site is already belongs to Stanley owner Andy Holt and the club had been looking far and wide for an appropriate site and hopes a training ground will help the club grow.

When the application was submitted in January the owner said: "We struggle to bring the kids on, there is nowhere for them to play.

"This would be somewhere they can grow.

"It’s essential that, if we are to take Accrington Stanley forward, the club has a training ground.

"We feel it is something that is holding us back at the moment although we keep defying the odds on the pitch.”

Mr Holt also said that they had looked for a site in Accrington but it was 'not possible'.

In the report, it claims Read Parish Council are 'supportive of the application in principal but would suggest that a covenant is applied to ensure that if the proposed facilities are no longer being used for football training, they should be offered to other local clubs and not developed for other uses' such as housing developments.

There are also objections from five different households/addresses with concerns over the 'increased traffic on a busy highway', 'visual impact of proposal on landscape', and 'concern over football fans visiting Whalley and Read'.

It has been recommended that the scheme be deferred and delegated to the Director of Community Services for approval subject to no objection being received from the Lead Local Flood Authority.