FOREST Green are aiming to create the first organic pitch in English football.

The move is part of Blue Square Bet Premier club Forest Green Rovers’ ongoing plans to become more eco-friendly.

Club chairman Dale Vince also runs Stroud-based green electricity company Ecotricity.

Vince said: “We’ve got a solar project planned, we’re looking at LEDs for the flood lights, and we’re also looking to collect the rain water from the main stadium and collect the drain water from the pitch so that we can recycle the water round and round.

“We’re also looking at sinking a bore hole so that we can feed the pitch with spring water.”

Groundsman Stewart Ward welcomed the green drive.

He said: “We are currently applying organic compound fertilisers and liquid seaweed feeds, and irrigating the pitch to achieve a pitch surface within six weeks.”

Ward said it would take about two years for the ground to be declared organic by the Soil Association.

“On a farm you’ve got to have a period of three to five years for chemicals to be leached out of the ground,” he said. “It’s only around two years for a sports ground.”

The club will meet the Soil Association on Thursday to discuss exactly what they need to do to become officially organic.

For your child's chance to be a mascot in the friendly between Slimbridge and Forest Green on August 3, enter our competition in this week's Gloucestershire Gazette newspaper.