The Football Foundation will put up to £850,000 into a 3G pitch at Sloughbottom Park in Mile Cross. A contractor is due on site next year, later than first planned.

Sloughbottom Park in Mile Cross is getting an all-weather football pitch, after Norwich City Council won up to £850,000 from the Football Foundation.

The foundation spends money from the Premier League, the FA and the government on grassroots sport. The council announced the award on 23 October. It says the grant also means the rest of the park’s revamp can go ahead.

What the pitch changes

The new pitch will be a FIFA-quality 3G surface, playable all year round.

When councillors approved the plans in March, the council said the pitch could host 80 hours of football a week, compared with around six hours on a grass pitch. The planning committee gave the pitch and a new sports hub the go-ahead on 12 March, under application 25/01441/F.

The council’s project page says the pitch is meant for more youth matches, women’s and girls’ football, disability football, and players from lower-income households in Mile Cross and across the city.

The whole park scheme

The pitch is one part of a £7.6 million project. The council won the money from the government’s Levelling Up Fund at the start of 2025. The Greater Norwich Growth Board added match funding, some of it for Dolphin Path.

The scheme includes:

  • the all-weather 3G football pitch
  • a new sports hub with changing rooms and a Changing Places toilet
  • the old pavilion refurbished with a café, public toilets and a community room
  • a new play area
  • a resurfaced BMX track with a new start gate, plus storage
  • a resurfaced car park, new paths, signs and lighting
  • repairs to Dolphin Path, the cycle path from Mile Cross towards the city centre

The sports hub will be bookable by anyone, not only teams using the pitch, the council says. The Changing Places toilet will be open to the public whenever the park is.

The play area design was chosen by residents last year. Of 741 responses, 68% of the design votes came from under-18s, and “Ecology Giants” won with 360 votes.

When it will be built

Later than first planned. The council’s questions and answers page still says construction was “due to begin in Spring 2026” and finish by summer 2027.

The 23 October announcement says the council will now “appoint a contractor to start building work on site next year”. It gives no finish date. The council will work with the Norfolk FA on a community programme for the sports hub.

Who will run the pitch, the hub and the café has not been decided. The council says it is still looking at the options.

Councillor Lucy Galvin, the council leader, called the award “marvellous news and fantastic for footballers in the Mile Cross area”.

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes at the park yet. No building work has started and the grass pitches and BMX track are in use as normal.
  • Expect closures once work begins. The council says some areas will have to close during construction, and it hopes to provide temporary toilets while the pavilion is refurbished. It has promised to publish closures in advance.
  • Clubs and coaches: the hub’s community programme is being drawn up with the Norfolk FA, and the council has not yet said how bookings will work.
  • Cyclists: Dolphin Path gets motion-sensitive lighting, new surfacing and fencing as part of the same scheme.

Sloughbottom Park is also the meeting point for this week’s guided river walks in the Where the River Meets Us festival. For more of the city’s big schemes, see our Norwich planning news.