£7.5k of repair work set to take place on Biggleswade football pitches this summer

About £7,500 of repair work is required to add some sparkle to football pitches in Biggleswade, a meeting heard.

The town has significant demand for football pitches, according to a report to its public land and open spaces committee.

Eight pitches across three locations are provided by the town council as an important resource for the local community, but these are under-used, said the report.

“Current annual income from these pitches is £5,000 and forecast to remain similar over time. The 2024/25 budget allocation for all local recreation grounds is £1,500.

“Officers identified that each pitch requires substantial repairs in places. This includes topdressing goalmouth areas, relevelling work and centre circle improvements, as well as fertilisation and chemical treatment. About half of every pitch’s surface area is covered by weeds, with overseeding required.

“A report in November requested significant capital and revenue investment to allow the council’s public realm team to properly maintain the current football infrastructure, which was declined by councillors.

“Up to £7,450 is required to be drawn from the council’s general reserves to produce a more positive pitch quality. This remedial work would be conducted early this summer.”

A separate report is planned for a future meeting, covering all aspects of football pitches in Biggleswade, with the potential five new Kings Reach pitches, and external comparisons of their quality, added the report.

BTC’s public realm manager Harry Henderson said: “Officers have identified remedial works required on the pitches to bring them to a better standard.”

Town councillor Duncan Strachan asked why local pitches are under-used and suggested repairs to goalmouths “appear to be an add-on for this financial year, when that should be included as a natural part of grounds maintenance”.

BTC’s head of governance and strategic partnerships Karim Hosseini replied: “Monday to Friday there’s more under-use, but it’s busier at weekends.

“Another report will follow in a couple of months covering as many pitches as possible. The public realm team has been mowing the pitches and painting white lines, but less so work on goalmouths. We’ll be doing more of that now.”

Mayor Mark Foster explained: “There are issues identified we need to resolve. There’s an amount of money to improve these to a standard that might attract more teams to use them. We should be supporting this.”

Councillor Strachan agreed, adding: “We’ll get increased use of the pitches and generate more income, which will reduce the impact on the general reserves.”

Town clerk Peter Tarrant said: “There’s an opportunity to bring this up to a different level of specification that would increase the usage.

“There seems to be a journey towards making it a much better offer connected to the FA’s approach to good husbandry.”

Deputy mayor Mark Knight wondered whether the current use has been measured and could be compared with future updated figures, if “pitch investment” leads to extra demand.

“If we’re improving these pitches, we must tell people,” he said. “So we need to think about a marketing plan.”

Councillors unanimously agreed a recommendation enabling officers to draw down £7,450 in 2024/25 for the remedial works.