Cheshire Phoenix chairman Andrew Donaldson says that the club’s proposed move to a new 1,400 seater venue in Ellesmere Port next season will help take them to the next level.

The Nix will be vacating their current home at Chester’s Northgate Arena and moving to the new £15m Ellesmere Port Sport and Leisure Village in 2015, at the end of their forthcoming BBL campaign.

The club, which emerged from the ashes of the Cheshire Jets back in 2012 to become a community focused not-for-profit organisation, have invested significantly in the close season and have appointed highly respected American John Coffino as their new coach.

They have also welcomed a number of players with NBA D-League experience to their ranks in a bid to challenge for silverware and establish themselves as a force in the BBL, something which Donaldson believes to be key to their future growth ahead of their move to Ellesmere Port.

“The move to the new venue in Ellesmere Port will make a huge difference to us and help us grow and progress as a club”, he said.

“But one of the reasons why we have made the acquisitions we have done on the court and brought in John Coffino is that we want to bring a winning side there in 2015.

“People will hopefully come along to see us in a new venue and see what we are about, but in order for us to keep them coming back and get bums on seats we need to have a winning side.

“This coming season is massive for us as we need to be winning trophies as it will lay the groundwork for what happens in the future.

The new venue, scheduled for completion in spring 2015, is a flagship leisure development for Cheshire West & Chester Council, with facilities set to include an eight-court sports hall, eight-lane 25m swimming pool, an 80-station gym and dance and fitness studios.

Donaldson is hoping that the move to Ellesmere Port, where the club began life before moving to Chester in 1993, will also help to continue the growth of their successful ‘Hoops 4 Health’ community programme in primary schools across the area.

He added: “Our aim is to try and get in to every single primary school in Ellesmere Port and Chester.

“Our community presence has been strong and we’re committed to growing it even further.”