Slough Borough Council defiant in claim to make football affordable

SLOUGH Borough Council has this week launched a staunch defence against claims that it is failing to support local football.

The council has been branded a ‘kick in the teeth’ to the grassroots game by angry supporters, who are astonished by the rising pitch hire fees - up 55 per cent on 2014.

That was supported by further criticism on social media with the council labelled a ‘disgrace’ and football clubs questioning whether or not they get value for money on the facilities they pay for.

One Tweet read: “It’s a joke - it costs too much money now at £65 per game. Where does a hike like that come from? I think the council need to look at costs as they’re paying too much money for what they get.” However, the council are defiant in their defence, suggesting football would be un-affordable to everyone if they were to remove the £140,000 a year spent on effectively subsiding the game - approximately £1 per head of the borough’s population.

A council statement read: “We don’t accept that the council is un-supportive of local football. If we were to remove our support, as we’ve been accused of, and football was required to cover its own costs, it would most certainly be unaffordable to everyone.

“We have 18 football pitches; six changing room buildings all bespoke for football; goal posts, corner flags, posts and nets for every pitch; and ancillary equipment frequently having to be replaced as they go missing.

“Pitch maintenance, which makes the areas usable as football pitches, costs £49,000, and changing rooms, which are used by the majority of teams and includes utilities, costs £148,000.

“By far the main cost is the changing facilities which the council provides specifically for football.

“Were these changing rooms not needed, the level of subsidy the council provides would be greatly reduced.” The statement continued: “Missing nets are not down to the council mishandling them. Nets are put up and taken down by the clubs. It’s a requirement that they are returned to the changing rooms after each game.

“If they’ve gone missing, the council presumes it’s because someone from a club hasn’t met this requirement.

“We don’t agree that the markings are never there. We contract to mark the pitches every week before the games, and if they’re not visible it would either be a mistake or caused by bad weather.

“We would hope people would report it to us so we could rectify it as soon as we can - even if that report is on Twitter.

“We know things might not be perfect at our end, but it’s unfair to accuse the council of not supporting football when we provide facilities and pitches specifically for the game and local clubs.

“Let’s not lose the fact that the council provides parks and open spaces across the borough for residents to enjoy so that facilities like football can take place.

“The council has a massively shrinking budget. We don’t have the funding available to provide services in the way we have before, and subsidies like this one for football will come under increasing scrutiny as we look to make more of the savings we’re required to make.” However, the council has failed to answer a key question from football clubs as to whether or not the £30,000 a year they spend on pitch hire fees is value for money.

One comment on Facebook said: “You could justify the pitch fees increasing if the grounds and facilities were actually well maintained and looked after. Upton Court Park facilities are a disgrace.

“I’ve had numerous times when you can’t get in the changing rooms for whatever reason. You phone the council and they can’t or won’t send somebody out.

“This then filters back to the club in fines for delays in kick-off or match postponement.” Another angry footballer posted: “Last season we were supposed to have played all of our home games at Upton Court Park but couldn’t because the showers weren’t safe to use.

“I was told in August/September last year it would take one month to sort out, but to my knowledge they’ve still not been fixed.

“We moved to Kedermister Park where the changing rooms are decent but the pitches need some work.” Another player bemoaned: “Pitches are up from around £43 a match to £65. How can you raise prices that much?

“Parks need to be maintained anyway. How much does it cost to mark out a pitch? If it costs too much to heat water for showers then change supplier.” SLOUGH Borough Council has this week launched a staunch defence against claims that it is failing to support local football.