South Lanarkshire Council to discuss future of grassroots football costs
The emergency meeting was called in response to weeks of backlash from local football teams
Last updated 17th May 2023
South Lanarkshire Council will meet today (May 17 2023) and vote on the future of planned increases to the cost of hiring a pitch.
SNP councillors have called for the emergency meeting in response to cost cutting measures introduced by South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture.
The leisure trust reduced the concessionary discount available to football clubs when hiring a sports venue in a bid to bridge a £4million funding gap in the budget.
The reduced discount translates to a 114% increase in costs for clubs - many of which say this will make grassroots football unaffordable for families.
Weeks of campaigning began to try and see the price hike reversed, and South Lanarkshire Council agreed to halt the implementation of the new pricing structure to engage further with clubs.
Vote to suspend standing orders
Today, South Lanarkshire SNP is urging at least 17 councillors to vote with them to suspend council standing orders and reverse the cuts to junior sport and leisure.
The SNP's Ross Clark said: "We're calling for these to be reversed because we've seen the outrage from local clubs who've told us they face hiking up membership fees or closure.
"We need two thirds of councillors to vote to suspend standing orders so we can even vote on the matter because it's been so soon since council made the decision.
"I really hope other councillors are able to drop their party lines and actually vote to protect children's sport in South Lanarkshire."
'A question of survivability'
He added: "Clubs have rightly protested against this because it's a question of survivability.
"If we don't get the cuts reversed, I dread to think what will happen.
"It will send a message that we don't care and that we won't listen to local clubs and the community.
"We've already seen a petition with more than 8,000 signatures, we've seen protests at the council building - people have shown they do not want this and they can't afford it.
"It's a tough ask but I hope other councillors can take this opportunity to show they're listening to clubs.
"I think initially, councillors didn't know what they were voting for.
"Cutting the concessionary rate didn't sound like much on paper but we can see that's not been the case."
Councillors will sit down for the meeting at 11.30 am.