Crawley have revealed they are hoping to build a £1.5million training complex within the next five years.

The League One club are in discussions with Sport England and the local council with a view to raise funding for the development on their existing council-owned training ground at Bewbush.

The project would include two grass pitches and an undercover artificial pitch to accommodate the first team and under-18s along with a proposed youth academy that new chief executive Richard Low is keen to launch.

The clubhouse would also be improved with Low keen to ensure the facilities would be open for the local community to take advantage of.

Low said: “It would probably cost the best part of £1.5million but there is the possibility of getting some funding from Sport England and other organisations providing it has benefits for the local community as a whole and not just the football club.

“We are not talking in terms of something to rival Barnet’s training ground (The Hive) or some of them in the Championship but it would be right for us in terms of what we need. It is at a very early stage but something needs to be done pretty quickly as the training facilities we have got at the moment are not suitable.”

Reds moved to Bewbush in July 2011 but the facility has been described as not fit for purpose by both current boss Richie Barker and predecessor Sean O’Driscoll.

The squad trained at Christ’s Hospital school during the summer and have been using the facilities at County League side Oakwood or on artificial pitches in the area since the season began.

Low added: “I’ve got a meeting with Sport England so after that we’ll know more. We don’t just want it to be a training ground for the club, we want to make it something the whole community can use.

“The team will obviously use that during the day but it would be available for other people at other times. The building down there is massive as well and a lot of the room is going to waste. We’ve got an understanding council who want to help us so hopefully something can be sorted out.

“Obviously it would cost a lot but once it is built it would be able to generate revenue and also save us money as we are currently having to hire places to train for the first team and the under-18s.”