A new two-storey clubhouse and an improved layout of four rugby pitches will transform Byng Road playing fields if planning approval is obtained by Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Football Club.
Its existing dilapidated clubhouse, built in 1957, is in desperate need of replacement and the club is anxious to bring its pitches and facilities up to the playing standards recommended by the Rugby Football Union.
Proposals for upgrading the clubhouse and playing area are now out for consultation with the club’s neighbours and nearby residents and the aim is to seek planning consent early next year and start work in 2024.
Full details can be seen at www.berfcproposals.co.uk
The club is holding an open day at the clubhouse on Saturday 10 September (between 12noon and 3pm) to discuss its plans with the neighbourhood, councillors, and other interested parties.
Barnet Elizabethans RFC, which dates from 1919, is an amateur sports club run by volunteers. It has close on 800 members, most of whom live in and around High Barnet.
At weekends – and often on weekday evenings – Byng Road playing fields are a hive of activity hosting matches for 75 adult players, 350 children and a newly-formed women’s team.
Club director Alex Bell said redevelopment of the clubhouse – which had a 25-year-life when built in 1957 – was essential to securing the club’s long-term future.
“Through the renewal of our facilities we hope to continue making a significant contribution to community sport in Barnet.
“We are fortunate to be fully supported by a local charity and therefore able to renew our facilities at no cost to the public.”
Mr Bell said the club was anxious to build up its relationship with partners such as the annual Barnet Medieval Festival which is held on the playing fields each June and which stages battle re-enactments on the grassed area alongside the adjoining Byng Road Allotments.
An artist’s impression shows the proposed lay-out for improvements to the site.
The new two-storey clubhouse, which would include inclusive player and spectator facilities, has been designed with a well-constructed base to minimise the vandalism and break-ins which have troubled the club over the years.
There would be four new high-quality pitches, level, well-drained and maintained to RFU-playing standards for senior, junior, and mini rugby.
A new multi-use games area would be provided next to the clubhouse providing opportunities to play other sports such as football, netball, and wheelchair-based sports.
Improved car parking, which would reduce parking in neighbouring streets, would include a new overflow car park.
There would also be landscaping across the site to minimise any impact on the Green Belt and steps would be taken to enhance and retain existing trees, foliage, and wildlife.
A group of local rugby players, some ex-pupils of Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, established the Barnet Rugby Football Club in 1919 and in 1998 it merged with Old Elizabethans RFC, which was created in 1935 and had a pitch at Gypsy Corner.
Byng Road playing fields became the club’s home 65 years ago, after a fund-raising exercise, when a lease was obtained from what was then Barnet Urban District Council.
Currently the Barnet Elizabethans have two first teams, an academy team, a development squad, a non-contact women’s team which was established last year, and 350 children who play tag rugby.
