Manea Parish Council scores with new sporting facilities for village teams

A Fenland village can look forward to having more space to play football following a decision to expand its playing field.

Manea Parish Council has secured an extra seven acres of space which will be used for sports pitches – with the aim for them to be ready in time for the new season this autumn.

The new area has been purchased using money contributed by developers under Section 106 to improve services in the village.

Cllr Ben Bonos, parish council chair, who proposed the purchase of the land explained: “For as long as I’ve been part of the parish council it has been apparent that the playing field doesn’t offer enough space.

“There are more than 200 registered football players in the village spread across more than 10 teams.”

He said the council is still heavily involved in an ongoing project to replace the playing field’s aging pavilion and changing facilities, which are not fit for purpose.

Grant applications are in the pipeline to fund a new pavilion, but Cllr Bonos said: “Whilst vital, the pavilion is only part of the puzzle. One of the key things we need to demonstrate is how we can use the project to grow participation. The issue is our current pitch arrangement cannot fully support the current player numbers.”

He explained there are six teams playing matches on the 11v11 pitch, three teams on the 9v9, and two teams on the 7v7. The usage of the 11v11 is a particular concern and a significant number of matches are cancelled due to wear during the winter months.

“Due to the way the fixtures are scheduled the 11v11 pitch never gets a rest weekend unless games are called off. Increasingly we are seeing matches being moved away from Manea to surrounding villages because our pitches cannot cope,” he said.

By providing the additional space there is the potential to double the participation, particularly with women players – there are currently two women’s sides with a second team launched this season.

Cllr Bonos said: “It is estimated that football in Manea already directly or indirectly impacts the lives of around 500 people.”

The new 7.21 acres will be used to provide 5v5 pitches, another full-size adult 11v11 pitch, a seven-a-side pitch and one for nine-a-side too,

Because the new land is the other side of Manea Pit to the current playing field a path would be created to link the two – which would either follow the route of the existing path around the Pit, or see a new one created outside the Pit fence.

Cllr Bonos said a new car park would also be included but that would not be part of the initial scheme, however, there is a possibility that a right of way that runs alongside the new field could be upgraded to take vehicles and that would help solve the parking issues faced in Park Road every weekend.

The whole scheme would be funded jointly by the parish council, Cambridgeshire Football Association and Manea Football.

The council has paid for the purchase of the field using the Section 106 to fund the full cost of the land, which was £50,000.

Cllr Bonos said the developer, who was consulted on using his Section 106 funds for the new playing area, was more than fair when it came to the price of the land. Cllr Bonos also offered reassurances that the new field would not impact the proposed pavilion project as it is anticipated local authorities will include money for the pavilion in their upcoming budgets, which would enable the parish council to seek match funding grants.

To turn the field into a grassed area cost around £7,000 – with a lot of the work being carried out by volunteers from the football community in October. Money for the grassing will be taken from the council’s annual £6,000 budget from the FA for pitch maintenance – £4,000 in total over two years. However, the remaining £3,000 needs to be paid for via fundraising activities by the football clubs and the parish council.

Cllr Bonos said the success of village football had led to the council being asked about other activities such as cricket and rugby, which in the past had been turned away through lack of space.

But he hopes the new space will now enable cricket to return to the village, as Manea previously had a very successful cricketing side, and for rugby to also be played if there are people willing to set up the teams.

“It has been a bit of a leap of faith but hopefully the space will encourage more people to get active,” said Cllr Bonos.

He also hopes that the extra space could, at sometime in the future, enable the village to have an artificial pitch, but it was not possible now because of the current limitations on funding and space.

Finally he said the new space opens up extra possibilities for the gala which has suffered from reduced space due to the loss of the parking area in recent years. The new field could provide additional space for stalls, exhibitions and parking.