Synthetic Pitches & PCC

"The situation with the embankment pitch is a follows. The council were continually informed about the poor condition of the pitch and the lack of repairs. They were warned by RWT about the consequences of doing nothing.
They then asked us (RWT) as to the best time for it to be replaced this was around autumn 2008. We said the best time was obviously June / July 2009 due to the ligher nights and we could move onto grass. Around May time 2009 PCC thought that they could get another year out of the carpet this was done without consultation with us.
The carpet continued to deteriate and it was closed on the grounds of safety.The key areas were the centre circle areas and edge of the penalty areas not the whole pitch. The choice PCC had was, do they make temporary repairs or replace the whole carpet. In their wisdom they decided to replace the carpet the figure for repairs was never disclosed to us.
The Embankment was closed mid August this was at the same time Bushfield was on limited opening hours due to the swine flu situation - another story of incompedence - We had to fight to get the outside facilities open and only then it was till 9pm.
Meanwhile the decision to do anything with the Embankment was sat on for a number of weeks before decisions were made to put out to tender.When the Emb was first closed we were clearly told that all would be sorted by November, the next news was that work would start last week in November with a completion of 1st week in January.
The carpet we were told was not due into the UK until mid December. The latest, after a meeting on Monday night is that the carpet has arrived and is in storage ready for transportation at a days notice. The council are concerned about exposure of the rubber underlay to the elements and the unauthorised useage by those who turn up on mass and get free use the fact that they keep the pitch gates open to let people in is another matter.

We heard (true or not) that PCC are still paying the swimming pool (DC Leisure) who manage the facility an amount of money to cover their loss of income from our hirings.

I have been asked on a number occasions about alternative venues, I can assure you we have investigated this as it is not in our interest as a business to have half our facilities shut in the middle of a recession. We approached Peterborough Town Hockey Club but they had only limited availability at unsociable hours and no full size goals only the small 5-a-side goals . There is a brand new pitch at John Fisher but again due to the council sitting rather than doing they have not yet agreed a community useage contract to allow use of the pitch after 5pm. Therefore this brand new facility is not in use.

As our teams are aware for us to continue as close to normal as possible we invested £8,000 in portable floodlights so that we can use on grass, we were using these up to the start of December, the problem we have is cutting up the grass land area and any high winds but we bought them as a long term investment and for other applications.

Regarding the small synthetic pitch at Bushfield , half the lights did not work and the trees overhung the pitch to block the lights that did work. Eventually after continually complaining and 2 months later they dealt with the problem.

Overall hopefully I have made clear the issues we have encountered and where we are today. Over the last 18 years PCC have a proven track record of failing to look after the synthetic pitches, or reporting issues and acting on them.

Despite this waste of money by PCC your 11-a-side pitch hires are going up again !!!"