A JUNIOR football club’s contentious plans to create new playing pitches look set to be approved.

Heddon Juniors FC fell out with Heddon-on-the-Wall Parish Council when the club submitted a planning application to transform farmland south of their previous home ground at Selman Park into further football pitches.

The club had used Selman Park, owned by the parish council, since its formation in 2017 but was told to find new premises by councillors who deemed the planning application an overdevelopment in a rural village.

However, the football club said it needed more facilities due to popular demand, with 150 children on the books.

The application for the new playing area, complete with a stone track leading into the pitches and a hard-standing parking area, is recommended for approval at the Castle Morpeth Local Area Council meeting on Monday.

Planning officers have recommended the scheme gets the go-ahead on the grounds that it would “secure playing pitches in a rural location” and “provide a local facility for Heddon-on-the-Wall and villages in the surrounding area”, according to a report to councillors.

The application received the backing of Sport England and 56 letters of support, but sparked four objections from neighbours in addition to the parish council.