Category: News

Six Years On, Hook Road Arena Community Sports Hub Reaches Major Milestone.

£1 million Council investment marks a major step towards bringing football home, creating a permanent home for netball and securing the future of one of Epsom & Ewell’s most important community green spaces

Six years after local sporting organisations first sat down with Epsom & Ewell Borough Council to discuss an ambitious vision for Hook Road Arena, the project has reached its most significant milestone to date.

When delivered, Hook Road Arena will become the largest community-led sports and recreation projects in Epsom & Ewell’s recent history. More than simply providing new football pitches and netball courts, the vision is to create a destination where organised sport, recreation, health, wellbeing and nature come together.

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council has approved a £1 million Community Infrastructure Levy allocationtowards the initial phase of the Hook Road Arena Community Sports Hub. The funding will contribute towards the delivery of community sports facilities, subject to the project securing at least £1 million in additional match funding.

For everyone involved, the decision represents far more than a funding announcement. It is the result of six years of determination, collaboration and partnership working between Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, Epsom & Ewell Football Club, The Downs Netball Club and the Community Interest Company have come together to help advance the vision for the site.

The Community Sports Hub forms part of Epsom & Ewell Borough Council’s long-term vision for Hook Road Arena. The site is allocated under Policy SA34 – Hook Road Arena within the Council’s emerging Local Plan as a mixed-use development combining new community sports facilities with residential development.

The allocation provides a planning framework through which carefully managed development could help unlock significant investment in community sports infrastructure while supporting the long-term future of the site as a place for recreation, health and wellbeing.

For many local residents, Hook Road Arena is far more than a sports ground. It represents one of the borough’s most significant areas of publicly accessible green space, with the potential to bring together sport, recreation, nature and community life in a way that benefits people of every age.

The Community Sports Hub seeks not simply to develop the site, but to enhance it—creating a lasting community asset where organised sport can sit alongside walking and jogging trails, children’s play areas, natural green spaces and opportunities for residents to enjoy the outdoors.

In doing so, the project offers a long-term vision that strengthens Hook Road Arena’s role as a place for recreation, health and wellbeing, helping to secure the future of one of Epsom & Ewell’s most important community green spaces for generations to come.

While football and netball sit at the heart of the proposals, the ambition has always extended far beyond sport.

The wider vision is to create an attractive and welcoming community park that can be enjoyed throughout the day and throughout the year. Alongside modern sporting facilities, the proposals include improved public access, natural walking and jogging routes, opportunities for dog walking, children’s play facilities, informal recreation and green spaces where people can meet, exercise or simply spend time outdoors.

Whether someone is attending a football match, playing netball, taking their children to the park, meeting friends for a walk or enjoying the natural environment, the ambition is for Hook Road Arena to become a place that belongs to the whole community.

On 16 June 2026, Natalie Swift, Chairman of The Downs Netball Club and a Director of the Community Interest Company, presented the vision for the Community Sports Hub to councillors. The presentation outlined the scale of local sporting need and the opportunity to transform access to sport, recreation and community facilities across the borough.

The approved CIL funding will contribute towards the initial delivery of grass football pitches and changing provision, outdoor and covered all-weather netball courts, football and netball clubhouses, parking, access roads, drainage, utilities, lighting and the supporting infrastructure required to enable community use.

The development brings together two ambitions that local sport has pursued for many years.

For Epsom & Ewell Football Club, it provides the opportunity to establish a permanent home once again within the borough after many years without a ground of its own.

For The Downs Netball Club and the wider netball community, it represents the opportunity to create the borough’s first permanent home for netball, with dedicated outdoor and covered courts providing greater security and more reliable opportunities for year-round participation.

Together, the facilities would create a genuine community sporting hub where football and netball can sit side by side, sharing essential infrastructure while providing opportunities for thousands of players, coaches, officials, volunteers, supporters and residents.

Natalie Swift said:

“Six years ago, we sat down with the Council with an ambitious vision for Hook Road Arena. This decision is the biggest step we have taken towards making that vision a reality.”

The approval represents more than the progression of a six-year project. It reflects a shared belief that community sport deserves permanent homes, that important green spaces can be enhanced rather than lost, and that partnerships between clubs, governing bodies, volunteers, residents and local authorities can achieve far more together than any organisation could achieve alone.

That belief has underpinned the project from the beginning. Although football and netball have been the driving force behind the proposals, the intention has always been to create something with much wider value: a destination that becomes part of everyday community life in Epsom & Ewell.

For football, the project offers the chance to return home. For netball, it offers the security of a permanent base for the first time. For the wider community, it creates an opportunity to protect and enhance an important green space while opening it up for greater recreational use.

Mel Tough, Chairman of Epsom & Ewell Football Club and a Director of the Community Interest Company, said:

“Bringing the football club home has been an ambition for many years. This is an important milestone and moves us closer to creating a lasting home that the club and the wider community can be proud of.”

The project partners have also expressed their sincere thanks for the extraordinary support received from across the community and the wider sporting world.

Hundreds of letters, emails and messages have been sent in support of the project by residents, players, parents, coaches, officials, volunteers, clubs and supporters from across Epsom & Ewell, Surrey and beyond.

The response has demonstrated the strength of feeling among both the football and netball communities and the importance people place on securing better, more reliable and more accessible facilities for future generations.

Support has come from grassroots clubs, professional clubs and organisations connected to both the men’s and women’s game. The project has also received backing from county and national governing bodies and sporting organisations, including the Football Foundation, The Football Association, Surrey FA, England Netball and Surrey County Netball Association.

The partners would like to thank every person and organisation that has taken the time to write to the Council, provide a letter of support, attend a meeting, share the project or speak publicly in its favour.

Every contribution has helped demonstrate the scale of sporting need, the depth of community backing and the wider benefits the project could deliver for Epsom & Ewell.

Mel Tough added:

“The support we have received has been overwhelming. To every club, player, coach, volunteer, official, governing body, resident and supporter who has stood behind this project—thank you. Every letter and message in our bid made a difference.”

Significant work still lies ahead. The next stages will include securing the necessary long-term arrangements for the site, progressing planning and design work and assembling the wider funding package required to deliver the facilities.

The £1 million CIL allocation is therefore not the end of the journey. It is a major step forward and an important public commitment to the future of the project.

After six years of collaboration, determination and partnership working, Hook Road Arena now has the opportunity to become one of Epsom & Ewell’s most significant community destinations.

Bringing football home, creating the borough’s first permanent home for netball and securing the future of one of Epsom & Ewell’s most important community green spaces, the Hook Road Arena Community Sports Hub has the potential to become a lasting legacy for sport, recreation, health, wellbeing and community life for generations to come.