Cricket pitch sale outrage; WALMLEY: Families furious at proposals to sell off ground.

Byline: By Adam Smith

FURIOUS residents are hoping to knock a cricket club's plans for six after it revealed proposals to sell off its ground.

Walmley Cricket Club announced plans to sell its Sutton Coldfield ground to Cheltenham-based Sport Partnership and move to a 23-acre Green Belt site at nearby Wishaw.

Shareholders have yet to approve the scheme but residents near the ground have already set up a campaign to stop the the land at Eldon Drive being developed.

More than 1,000 leaflets have been printed to warn residents about the dangers of another housing development on their doorstep.

Campaign spokesman Dr Rob Pocock, who is working with the residents, said: "We are calling for a united community campaign where representatives of all political parties back the residents in an effort to keep the site as a leisure amenity.

"If the cricket club decide to move that's up to them, but whatever happens, the future of this precious asset has got to remain in local hands as recreational open space. It would be great if this land was passed to a community group for permanent local amenity use.

"We will be campaigning to get our councillors and MP to go for an option like this, instead of the current project which can only be realised by a massive building plan."

Walmley Cricket Club has played at the ground since 1919 and could collect up to pounds 6 million by selling the site.

Chairman Alan Harper said he believed the move was vital to the club's longterm future. "If everything is in place with the plans you can rest assured the development will go ahead," he said. "We would have three grounds and top facilities including a clubhouse and an indoor cricket net with six lanes."