COUNCILLORS may have to ‘move the goalposts’ when looking at work to provide more sports pitches in Wellington for future generations.

Members of Wellington Town Council heard at their most recent meeting – held via Zoom video conferencing technology – that a playing pitch strategy feasibility report was commissioned in 2018 and part-funded by the authority. It aimed to build on the work undertaken through the old Taunton Deane Borough Council’s strategy for 2016-28 and specifically how the recommendations in that could be delivered in Wellington.

A steering group consisting of representatives from the town council, Wellington and District Sports Federation and the cricket, football and rugby clubs oversaw the work.

But things have gone awry in recent months from the initial proposals of the strategy – not helped by the Covid-19 pandemic bringing a halt to further work – and with Wellington Football Club going out on its own and looking at moving to a new site at Longforth Farm.

Town clerk Dave Farrow said: “We have just got to the point now where we need to take another look at this.

“Some of the ideas may not be relevant and some suggestions we should re-visit and see which things need to be developed.”

But Cllr John Thorne said: “The playing pitch strategy is dead in the water. The football club has held it under the water – there is no reviving it.

“The football club is sorting itself out and so we now have the cricket club and the rugby club.”

Cllr Thorne added: “When we started this and put together a playing pitch strategy we were looking at all of these sporting organisations but it’s now fragmented. We may need to look individually to see how we can help these clubs.

“We have spent thousands on the playing pitch strategy but we are now where we are with it. We need to start again and take a different approach.”

It was later clarified that the council had spent just over £1,000 so far on the playing pitch strategy, although it still had £8,000 in the budget for the project.

Cllr Andy Govier said: “I don’t take the same view as John Thorne on this. The position is still the same – we haven’t got enough pitches in the town and it’s going to get worse.”

He said the strategy had been faced with problems after a possible earmarked site for playing pitches was now not financially viable. “A field we thought we could buy for X amount of pounds, is now X amount of pounds times ten,” he said. “But there is still a need for additional pitches for our sports teams.”

Cllr Mike McGuffie said he did not think the work carried out so far on the strategy was wasted, while Cllr Mark Lithgow added the council needed to be ‘forward thinking and look to provide for the future generations of the town’.

Cllr Thorne came back to clarify his feelings on the subject. “I’m not saying it’s a waste of time – but I just think we need to look at this again with a different approach.”

Councillors were told that Section 106 money – contributions from developers for the Cades Farm housing development – amounted to £359,700 to be spent on outdoor recreation. Some £329,700 is still available which needs to be spent on playing pitch provision by May 2027.