THE number of football pitches at the former Beauwater Leisure ground is to be increased from three to six.

Gravesend & Northfleet chairman Brian Kilcullen has revealed that, as new owners of the Nelson Road facilities, they hope to be able to alter the layout of the fields.

Mr Kilcullen says he is finalising the plans, after detailed surveys confirmed the pitches could be increased and varied in size so football can be offered to juniors as young as seven and all the way up to senior players.

He said: "What that means is, two of the teams who were told they couldn’t stop on the pitch may be able to now."

The Beauwater Sports and Leisure Club was bought by Gravesham Borough Council at the beginning of the month, predominantly as a training ground for Gravesend and Northfleet.

The facilities are to be operated by Fleet Leisure Limited, a subsidiary of Gravesend and Northfleet Football Club, which will run the site in partnership with the council.

The club is to be opened up to the community and people will be able to become members and make use of the facilities.

Mr Kilcullen has said that, in time, Fleet Leisure hopes to develop the facilities as well as to maintain the existing buildings.

He added that a table tennis hall next door was underused, at times, and a good place to start with. Improvements and a creche could be a possibility in time.

He said: "We will try to make use of the existing resources, the function hall and bar area. We also have a table tennis hall next door so there are some resources there that we will try and get people to use."