A cricket pitch will be considered by Bradford West Gwillimbury council during 2023 budget deliberations.
The current council approved placing the pitch on town-owned property on Line 11 during its final meeting of the term Oct. 4 but will leave it to the newly elected officials to determine how much money should be put toward the project.
The most recent attempt to bring a cricket pitch to Bradford West Gwillimbury started at the Aug. 2 council meeting, when Coun. Gary Lamb requested a staff report on the feasibility of placing the pitch at Henderson Park. While demonstrations have been played at the park previously, staff ultimately determined it wouldn’t be the best location at this time.
“Henderson Park was developed through long-term planning for sport capacity and is in the configuration it is in for this purpose,” the staff report indicated. “Cricket actually has a greater space need for play than a full-size soccer field can offer; this can cause conflict with other user groups in proximity, similar to baseball and soccer.”
Among town property, there isn’t currently a suitable spot for a regulation cricket pitch, typically an oval area measuring between 137 and 150 meters wide. But staff feel the front lawn of the Community Services administration building on Line 11 is close enough.
“After measuring the area for fit, staff determined that a cricket field measuring 100 x 90 in an oval format could fit, but this is smaller than a regulation field,” the report continued. “Staff reached out to Cricket Canada to inquire what would be acceptable for play and confirmed that 90 metres would be sufficient in size also considering that the request is for softball cricket.”
Still, there was some concern from council about the location’s suitability. Coun. Jonathan Scott referred back to his university studies to showcase his concerns about liability surrounding errant cricket balls and the damage they could do to people and property.
“This site – I know it’s temporary – is next door to our works yard, one of our admin buildings and a 400-series highway,” Scott said. “I want a cricket pitch, don’t get me wrong. My question just, very simply, is are we sure this is safe?”
Terry Forhan, director of community services, said the Line 11 option was the best option of the entire inventory the town had at its disposal. But it’s not perfect.
“(A regulation cricket pitch requires) a substantial amount of space that we currently don’t have in inventory that wouldn’t cause conflict with other organizations or other sports play,” Forhan said. “Cricket or organized sports are typically played after hours. There won’t be a lot of our public works traffic moving in and out… We are going to mitigate where we can. Is it perfect? No, but we’re going to monitor it as well.”
The property could provide a good stopgap until the master planning process begins for the second phase of Henderson Park in the next couple of years, Forhan added.
Representatives from the Bradford Cricket Club visited the site with town staff and were impressed by the space overall, the report to council indicated. Their ideas for potential improvements to the site will be what council will consider at budget time.
These accommodations range from some minor grounds work, where the field is left in as-is condition and some obstacles removed or relocated, costing approximately $6,500 to the fairly substantial overhaul of the front lawn, including the installation of a 12-foot by 174-foot wicket among other improvements, at an estimated cost of $93,000.
Coun. Mark Contois thought it was a practical recommendation to move forward.
“We a very diverse community here and I think this is a perfect solution (and) it really doesn’t cost that much to move it forward,” he said. “At the end of the day, land costs a lot of money and we own this and it suits the purpose for now.”
