Cllr Larry Crofton, Leader of Hatfield Town Council, has issued a statement regarding the recent concerns on hire costs for teams training at Hatfield Town Council facilities.

“With finances being as tight as they are for people I wasn’t comfortable with the thought of extra financial burdens being put on families for youth sport.

I spoke to the Officers at the council and helped come up with an alternative plan that works for the voluntary youth teams we have locally.

Voluntary youth teams based in Hatfield will be exempt from the new training fee but they must agree and book training slots with staff members to ensure grass pitch areas and car parks have sufficient capacity and can operate within safe numbers.

However training fees will still apply to commercial outfits such as soccer and holiday camps.

We still have concerns about over use and over capacity with adult pitches and car park problems on certain days and evenings, and we will arrange a meeting with local clubs to discuss how this can be resolved collectively to ensure the facilities can cope with the demand and arguments do not break out between rival clubs over who has precedence on any given evening.”