Footie fans face hire fees hike (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Footie fans face hire fees hike

9:17am Wednesday 18th December 2002 in Sport By Gazette News Desk

AN upgrade of the Jubilee Playing Fields will mean footballers who use the four Kendal pitches will have to pay more fees per game.

South Lakeland District Council plans to spend £35,000 to drain and level the playing fields which are used by 20 teams and more than 200 players.

Members of SLDC's cabinet heard that improving the current facilities was likely to result in additional maintenance costs. Councillors were told the current income from the pitches was £1,350 compared with maintenance costs of £5,500. It was agreed that "a fairer mechanism for charging" be introduced, whereby pitches are charged per game instead of a seasonal charge of £170. The proposal means that teams are charged £2 per player per game - that equates to £22 per game. This would increase the season fee to an estimated £330 based on each club playing 15 games and would generate an income of £2,000.

Officers are also investigating creating two additional pitches on adjacent land which could draw down £65,000 of grant aid from the Football Foundation.

"We are getting a pittance in for something that is very popular," said Coun Andy Shine. "We need to go that step further and say that we can't make these improvements without upping the fees.

"By providing an extra two pitches we are going to spread the load on the other pitches. And with the creation of further pitches at Cinder Ovens we are starting to get on top of the demand in the town for pitches."