Cricket facilities hit for six

Local cricket players and fans will be sad and disappointed to hear that Brentwood Borough Council's last remaining grass cricket square is going to close and will cease to be maintained as a fine turf area.

The decision to close the square at Warley Playing fields was made at last night's Leisure, Sport and Culture Panel and was voted through by members of the Conservative administration after officers said there appeared to be no demand for the facility..

Liberal Democrat members on the Panel, which included Leader Cllr David Kendall, called for the closure decision to be deferred until a future Panel meeting to allow Council officers time to re-market the pitch to local schools and other interested parties. With the marked interest in cricket, particularly in the 20/20 game amongst all age groups they felt that the Council was being to hasty with this decision because once the square is lost it will be lost to the community forever. Cllr Kendall said:

"Cricket is a growing and popular sport in our Borough and we are concerned that many sections of our community may have been unaware that the Council had a grass cricket square available for hire. We believe it would have made more sense for the Council to re-market the square through local schools and the press to gauge any demand and then make a final decision on it's closure.

"Sadly, the Conservative majority on the Panel chose to dismiss our genuine concerns out of hand".