Southwark Council has started the legal process that will create a new all-weather football pitch and help secure the long-term future of Dulwich Hamlet FC.
Greendale Playing Fields are next to Dulwich Hamlet FC’s stadium at Champion Hill and include an old Astro Turf that is derelict and no longer in use for organised sports.
Now the council has agreed the old astroturf and nearby land can be used for a new pitch for Dulwich Hamlet to enable their plans to build a new stadium at Champion Hill on the adjoining site and secure the club’s long-term future. Community access to the new sports facilities, including the pitch will be secured through legal agreements
The wider Greendale Playing Fields site will remain with the council and continue to be used by the public.
Dulwich Hamlet FC is a treasured and historical team in Southwark, having played their football in the borough for 123 years. They have used Champion Hill stadium since the early 1990s, pulling in crowds of local supporters for decades.
The land appropriation was agreed at Southwark Council’s Cabinet meeting on 17th June.
Cllr Portia Mwangangye, Cabinet Member for Parks, Leisure and Young People said:
“Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a well-loved part of life in Southwark with a rich history and thousands of local fans.
“The club has planning permission, granted in February 2022, to build a new stadium on a site that includes part of the adjacent Greendale Playing Fields.
“The council has now agreed to lease part of the site, which includes a derelict football pitch, to Dulwich Hamlet to enable the construction of a new all-weather pitch and to enable the club to build a new stadium and secure its future.
“A large part of Greendale will remain under council management and will continue to be used for open space to benefit local people and the community.”
Ben Clasper, Chairman of Dulwich Hamlet FC said:
"This decision is critical in allowing the work to commence to build a new stadium and secure the club’s future in its community for generations to come.
“We are excited by a development that is not just for the benefit of a much-loved club but will be the cornerstone for regeneration in our area and deliver on growth, housing and health with a huge increase in sporting provision for the community.
“The section of land being appropriated was our old ground before the club moved in 1931 to the current site and so this project brings us back to our home of a century ago to allow us to build for the century ahead."