Petition calls for urgent repairs at sports club, Teesdale Mercury

MORE than 150 villagers have signed a petition calling for urgent repairs to a run-down sport club.

Residents are upset about Evenwood parish council’s plans to spend £18,000 on a second war memorial in the village.

They say the money should instead be spent on vital repairs at the pavillion in the Welfare sports ground.

The building has suffered from vandalism, broken windows and damaged showers, and doesn’t have electricity.

Residents say the “whole village is up in arms” about the situation, and 150 people signed a petition calling for action within two days of it being launched.

The dispute follows similar protests about the parish council’s plans to build a memorial to miners earlier this year.

At the time, village cricketers also said the money should be spent on the sports ground.

Parish clerk Martin Clark this week responded by saying that village councillors were hoping to obtain grants to fund a revamp of the entire sports ground.

He said: “The trustees are looking at the amenities on the whole of the Welfare Ground, not just the pavilion, cricket and football pitch areas and hope to put further funding applications forward in the near future.”

Mr Clark added that the parish council values the contribution made to the community by the cricket and football clubs.

But he added the parish council has a responsibility to its entire 

area.

Mr Clark said the parish council “cannot and will not stop doing everything else and put all its funds into the Welfare Ground”. 

The state of the sports pitch has been a concern for several years. In 2005 the death knell sounded for Evenwood Town, which played at the Welfare Ground. Several other teams that use the pitch have also folded.

 Mr Clark said, at the request of the cricket club, the parish council was asked to remove the old terracing and ticket boxes.

He said: “This amounted to over £3,500 and sadly this seems to have been forgotten. The trustees themselves also arranged for community service workers and Groundwork to come in and tidy the area up.” 

This year, the football teams will get new goal posts and smashed windows will be replaced, the parish council said.

However, the council could not afford to pay £6,500 top restore the electricity, said Mr Clark.

But resident Susan Dowson, who is leading the petition, disagreed with his statement and said many other villagers were “up in arms”.

She said: “Over 150 people signed the petition in two days. The village is in absolute uproar – we don’t need a new memorial, we need better sports facilities. The whole village wants to get it sorted for the kids in the village.”

The war memorial will be jointly funded by county councillor Stephen Hugill’s neighbourhood fund and Evenwood and Ramshaw Community Association.

Although there’s a war memorial in the cemetery, councillors wanted to erect a second monument in the centre of the village to boost attendance during Remembrance Day and encourage children to take part.

But Ms Dowson said: “I find it quite astonishing that a memorial object is going to be placed in the village at a cost of £18,000. 

“We already have a war memorial in the cemetery and this could be restored for a fraction of what it is going to cost for another one.

“Surely the youths and older residents of the village would benefit more from any funds which are available are injected into getting power supplies re-connected. 

“If the football and cricket facilities were re-instated back to its former days, this will give the youngsters who live in Evenwood village a place where they can use their skills and talent.”