Funds for pitch improvement (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Funds for pitch improvement

1:12pm Thursday 30th January 2003 in

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Muddy knees may be an integral part of the beautiful game, but pitches which generate more mucky kit than most are in line for some special attention.

South Lakeland District Council has approved its own plans to drain and level the notoriously soggy and uneven football pitches at the Jubilee Playing Fields on Mintsfeet Road.

The council's recreation officer Helen Lawler explained that planning permission was "one piece of the jigsaw" in a bid to secure improvements at the popular grounds, which are used by three football clubs and the pub teams in the area's Sunday league.

Mrs Lawler said SLDC itself had committed £35,000 to draining the four pitches on its land but needed planning permission to get grants from the Football Foundation to pursue more ambitious schemes.

There are three possibilities that could become a reality, depending on the generosity of the Foundation.

l With a grant of around £90,000, the council could lease neighbouring land from United Utilities, drain and level the site and create two extra pitches alongside the four council pitches.

l With £60,000, it could drain and level the council's four pitches.

l If the Foundation spurned SLDC's advances entirely, the authority could just use its own money to drain the grounds.

With the planning permission in hand for the most ambitious scheme to create two extra pitches, Mrs Lawler said she would now be putting bids together for the Football Foundation, and should know the results in six months time.

Discussions have begun with United Utilities for the lease on its land but the company has not yet made a decision.

Mrs Lawler herself was upbeat about the chances of seeing the plans made good. "It's more than a thing on a wishlist, because there is some SLDC money behind it."

l As part of the planning permission granted last Thursday, SLDC has been allowed to demolish a small, dilapidated changing hut on the site.