Anger after Colne football pitches churned up by Gala

A Colne Councillor has slammed Pendle Council after local football pitches were left "resembling an army tank exercise range" after use for Colne Gala.

The Vivary Bridge Conservative Councillor, Kieran McGladdery, wrote an explosive post stating:

"Angry doesn't get anywhere close to how I'm feeling about this.

The images show the state of the children's football pitches at Holt House, Colne.

This is the aftermath of the funfair held on there this weekend.

I'll be convening an urgent meeting with Pendle Council officers... ...in order to understand what's happened, how to put it right, and start discussions to create a legal mechanism to prevent this happening again.

I'll be pushing to ensure that we protect the football pitches and write into policy that they can never be used for anything other than playing sport again."

The Cllr followed up his post by writing to the Council to express his views and request a meeting. Within the email, Cllr McGladdery was unimpressed with the £500 per day the Council received for renting out the land for the Gala and suggested the "The labour costs associated to Keith (Head of Pendle Parks) et al will outstrip the £500 on day-one. The social impact is huge, and there is irreparable reputational damage associated with this destruction."

Pendle Council responded to Cllr McGladdery with the following:

Holt House pitches churned up

"The fields are in a dreadful state after a poor combination of heavy vehicles, people and heavy rain. Luckily a lot of the damage is not within the main No1 pitch.   

The fair operator has confirmed that after we have a few days of dryer weather he is planning to flatten out the damaged areas, import fresh sports grade soil, grade out and reseed, alongside the damaged verges. 

A hired in road sweeper was due to attend site today or tomorrow to remove mud from all the hard surfaces.  We are happy with this proposal as an interim and will regularly check on progress and that works are being carried out to our satisfaction."

Pendle Insider spoke to Cllr McGladdery about his concerns who told us:

Cllr McGladdery (Con)

"I have been a ward Councillor for Vivary Bridge for three years now. Supporting projects aiming to protect greens spaces, and improving sports facilities has been high on my agenda, alongside committee work and regular resident casework.

Since day one I have been airing my concern about the usage of Holt House for anything other than for sports. I've witnessed the damage caused annually, the public uproar, and lengthy, costly repair schedules.

Colne Gala is a long-standing, fantastic family event, drawing in thousands of spectators to join the fun. It's time that the funfair found a new location though. Year-on-year the damage caused by the heavy equipment has gotten worse, with the state of the football pitches this time turning the pitches into something resembling an army tank exercise range.

Pendle Council's 'Parks Team', led by Keith Higson are a fantastic outfit and work tirelessly in all weather, 365 days a year with limited resources, to proudly provide a playable surface for locals teams. They'll be devastated, like myself and residents, at what's happened this weekend and to see their progress destroyed.

I'm pleased that the fair operator has already met with the Council team on site, and that a plan to put it right has already been agreed. The damage has already been done though both physically, psychologically with locals, and reputationally to the Council. Now, we must fix it, and stop it happening again.

Next for me is to meet with stakeholders including local teams and members of the public to appraise them of the situation and forward plans, simultaneously engaging senior Council officers in order to draft a mechanism that ring fences the playing fields for sport only.

This has been a very emotive topic for residents and I have been inundated with messages and calls from genuinely upset Colners.

We'll learn from this and put it right as quickly as we can."

Pendle Insider contacted Pendle Council to ask the following questions. Green Spaces Manager Phil Riley replied:

Phil Riley

Q: Given the impact to the ground from use by the fair, will the Council be
reconsidering its position to allow such events on the football pitches?

A: An informal meeting has been held initially between councillors, Council staff and the organisers of Colne Gala to look at this. We need to balance the need to maintain good quality football pitches as well as providing a location for Colne Gala which has a 75-year history. Final decisions have not yet been made.

Q: What is your assessment of the pitches following the event?

A: There were deep ruts on the perimeter of the football fields and also on the main routes onto the site.

Q: What remedial action has, is or will be taken and when? 

A: Damage was caused to the perimeter of the football fields due to excessive rainfall over the weekend. This then caused difficulties in the vehicles leaving site. The Colne Gala organisers have now repaired the damage caused to the fields, the site has been reseeded and the Council's landscape maintenance team will carry on with the usual summer pitch renovations

Q: When will the pitches be available for use again? 

A: Pitches will be ready to use for the 2024/25 season.

LINKS:

Cllr McGladdery Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/cllrkieranmcgladdery