Parents cut grass after disputes halts kids' football in Rainhill

As previously reported in the Star, a dispute over ground maintenance resulted in hundreds of kids unable to play football for weeks in Rainhill, as the maintenance of the grass on the borough's playing fields stopped being subsidised by St Helens Council.

With disagreements between Rainhill parish councillors and the Council over maintenance costs, parents took to Holt Fields to mow the grass themselves asdozens of youth teams at Rainhill Rockets and Rainhill United, and an adult team at Rainhill Town were left without a pitch to play on.

After the parents marked out two pitches on Holt Fields, off Warrington Road, the rest of the grass was cut by the council's services, which is believed to have been done in error.

Despite the short-term solution, this has not solved the problem of who is going to maintain the fields, and for what price, in the long term.

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Grass was left to grow for weeks on Holt Fields in Rainhill (Image: Birchall's Pumpkin Patch)

Council decide to end free maintenance services

Although St Helens Council provided free maintenance on playing fields leased to parish councils for the best part of 50 years, it backtracked on this commitment due to financial strains earlier this year.

In what it says is a move to recover vital funds, St Helens Council announced that from April, it will no longer pay for the upkeep, mowing, litter-picking, and inspections of playing fields in Bold, Eccleston, Seneley Green, Windle, and Rainhill.

As clubs not in parish areas already pay fees to the council, it believes that this creates a fairer system across the borough. If parish councils are unable to meet costs, they have the option to end their lease of these pitches.

One of the Rainhill Rockets junior teams that play matches on Holt Fields (Image: Rainhill Rockets)

However, the decision has caused a particular backlash in Rainhill as it is believed to have been charged considerably more than other parish areas. 

In Rainhill, the original charge quoted by the council to maintain the playing fields was £49,537 per year, which was reduced to £31,688 following the removal of play areas and maintenance specifications.

Following further reductions in maintenance bills, the council brought this cost down to £24k per year, which they agreed could be granted a 50 per cent discount for the first 12 months.

Chief councillors believe that this is a generous offer for Rainhill, with the village charged more than other parish areas due to possessing more fields and open spaces. 

It was also suggested that the price could be brought down further if more maintenance services are cut back.

Pitches and line markings were cut by parents, with the rest of the field cut in error by maintenance services (Image: St Helens Star)

Shortfall of £16,000 causing maintenance stalemate

As junior teams are not charged to rent the pitches in Rainhill, parish councillors believe that St Helens Council's offer is not a fair deal and said that they can only afford £8,000 a year for the maintenance costs.

After a war of words on social media with senior Labour councillors, the parish councillors said they feel they have been "held to ransom" to accept the council's demands.

With a shortfall of £16,000, football teams using the fields in Rainhill have agreed to contribute more money to move past the impasse.

Parish councillors said they will take another look at their finances to see what they can afford to ensure "football can go ahead in Rainhill next season".

The parish council said it has also asked for a meeting with the council to try and resolve the issue.

Independent councillor for Rainhill, James Tasker (Image: St Helens Council)

Council 'holding us to ransom' over maintenance fees

James Tasker, independent councillor for Rainhill, said: "As a parish council, we haven't charged the junior teams to rent the pitches and receive a small amount of income from the one adult team that does.

"We have a council tax income of around £68k but around £58k of this is outgoings, and earmarked for community projects such as village hall grants and Christmas light switch-ons.

"We've kept our parish council tax at the same level since we were elected, and have to keep a certain amount in reserves for contingency plans, which is why we offered £8k. 

"Even this would be tricky because it would be close to our limits, but we thought it was a fair offer as it would be more than the council earned if we ended the lease.

"We have got to support the community and live within our means, but it feels like the council is holding us to ransom and treating us like criminals with its demands.

"The parish council is just a voluntary organisation and to treat us like this when it's about kids playing football is ridiculous.

"At the end of the day, it's the kids who are losing out."

While the pitch has been cut in the short-term, long-term solutions are yet to be made (Image: St Helens Star)

'Financial cuts' brought an end to maintenance subsidies

A St Helen Borough Council spokesperson said: “Due to 13 years of financial cuts to our council budgets by Central Government we continue to have to make increasingly difficult service decisions to ensure we can continue to provide a balanced budget and prioritise essential services for our residents.  

“For many years, the borough council have provided maintenance without charge on land leased to parish councils, despite the parish councils actually being responsible for maintenance of the land themselves as part of the lease agreement.   

“The council has previously covered the costs of mowing, litter-picking and weed-killing, marking and maintenance of sport pitches, play equipment inspections, and health and safety site inspections, for land leased to parish councils which is a benefit not afforded to those hiring pitches directly from the council.   

“As such, full council took the decision in last year’s budget setting process to remove this subsidy to parish councils to increase fairness, consistency and transparency in our land lease arrangements across the borough and to allow priorities and other essential services to be maintained .   

“We engaged with the five parish councils in October last year to forewarn them that we must begin charging for these services from April 2023, thus allowing time for parish councils to consider their budgets and precepts. We confirmed the council position in March with agreements to provide this service being made with four of the five parish councils.  

“It is unfortunate that Rainhill Parish Council has failed to work with the council to ensure ongoing maintenance of the pitches and that the local clubs have been affected in this way.  

“As we have previously stated, if Rainhill Parish Council no longer wish the council to maintain the pitches, they have the option to make their own arrangements with a private company or hand the playing fields back to the council who would in turn maintain the pitches and as such the clubs using them would be treated like any other in the borough by paying the appropriate fees.  

“Grassroots sports clubs across the borough are of course incredibly important to us, and as such we continue to offer subsidised pitch hire on council run pitches to junior clubs.   

“With more sports pitches in Rainhill than any other parish in the borough and the need for year round maintenance, the charges are greater than elsewhere.   

“We continue to work with the clubs’ best interests at heart and will be meeting with the clubs affected and continue to seek to engage with Rainhill Parish Council to agree arrangements that are consistent with the other parish councils and clubs across the borough.”