A new £6m community sports village opened at the Enterprise Zone in 2023, completing the first phase of development at Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone. 

The Common Edge Community Sports Village includes 14 new grass football pitches, along with a full sized floodlit 3G football pitch, sports pavilion with changing rooms and community space, plus a floodlit rugby pitch and training area. 

The new sports pavilion includes six changing rooms, two officials’ rooms, two kitchens and a large community room.  

A 194-space car park with sustainable drainage and a new access road to the sports village has also been completed as part of the works. 

The development is now managed by Blackpool Council’s Active Blackpool team, and is being used to increase participation in community sport.

The development has created a better alternative to the previous Common Edge and Collins Park playing fields, allowing the land to be appropriated for industrial use, unlocking 10.5 hectares of land to create a new access road to the Enterprise Zone and eight new commercial units.

Support to build a new access road to the sports village, as well as the new access road to Amy Johnson Way, has been provided through a £7.5m grant from HM Government Town Deal, while £250,000 of funding for the construction of the sports pavilion was granted by Football Foundation.

Lead design consultants for the Enterprise Zone Cassidy + Ashton worked on the plans for the sports pavilion and football pitches, with Wildes Consulting leading on highways design for the new junction. The pavilion was constructed by Conlon Construction while STRI group installed the new pitches and AE Yates constructed the new highway. 

Bookings for the venue can now be made through Active Blackpool.