Football pitches in Cannock Chase could be sold off by the district council.
The proposal is part of a shake-up of how the council provides pitches and, as part of the plan, leisure chiefs are looking to get rid of surplus grounds.
The council claims there are too many adult pitches in the district which are expensive to maintain. It wants to concentrate its resources on building new football development centres.
These will offer improved facilities with a number of pitches in one site. And in a move to reassure residents and sports teams, officers have vowed that any pitches identified as surplus will stay as open space.
In some cases, these could be offered for sale to local football teams.
A report is due to go before the council’s select committee on children and young people, which also examines leisure services, at a meeting on Wednesday.
Councillors will hear details of a study carried out in 2004 which identified a surplus of 27 adult football pitches, but a shortfall of mini-soccer and junior football pitches. Peak demand is on a Sunday morning with the quality ranging from average to poor.
The report also highlighted large numbers of school playing fields which were under-used – as schools rarely hire their pitches out.
The council is set to launch its football pitch strategy over five years to develop three football development centres, with adult pitches being concentrated on several sites. The council will seek to join up with schools to use playing fields for junior football.
Over the next three years three mini-soccer centres will be created, with one in Rugeley and a further two to be decided. The entire plan will hinge on whether the sale of under-used pitches will provide the council with cash to fund the project.
Mick Grocott, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “It’s not about selling pitches, this is about improving facilities for the whole of the district.”
2 Comments
Yet more “green space ” being sold off for housing no doubt.
This council are only interested in “section 106 ” money they get from housing developers, but what about the infrastructure to support all these new houses ? when are they going to build new schools , nurseries, health centre and leisure facilities… or we going to have more kids raoming the streets vandalising everything because they are bored.
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There is no mention in the article of any of the pitches being “sold off for housing” - so not sure what motorman is going on about. Indeed it says that “any pitches identified as surplus will be kept as open space”.
It is strange and disappointing that the headline says pitches “sell off bid” and yet the only reference to possible sales is to the football clubs themselves. The article does in fact then mention that the plan is to provide extra facilities for our kids with mini-soccer centres and junior football pitches. Perhaps the headline could have reflected the real plans, but I guess good news doesn’t sell papers!
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