WINCHESTER civic chiefs are poised to take action after vandalism and anti-social behaviour at the artificial football pitch by River Park Leisure Centre.

Problems have included trespassing, damage to fencing and playing surface, and threatening behaviour from groups of around 15 toward council staff and the police.

The issue was raised at Winchester Town Forum which heard a report suggesting spending £99,000 on improving facilities with newer, better fencing as well as clearance of vegetation to open up the site.

Andrew Moore, council’s open spaces support officer, told the meeting: “The fencing is 20 years old and technology has moved on. We want to make it more difficult to climb, more robust. (The new design) almost requires people to climb back on themselves. We like to think that will be more of a deterrent as well.”

Cllr John Tippett-Cooper, who lives nearby and regularly plays football on the pitch, welcomed the report and suggested attempting to increase its use, engaging with local football clubs and the Saints Football Foundation. “If it was used more I suspect it would be better preserved.”

Cllr Martin Tod said that if youngsters were climbing onto the pitch then that showed demand for the sport which should be satisfied. But Susan Croker, head of landscape and open spaces, said: “They are not breaking in to play football, they are doing other things.”

The pitch has been in the ownership of the city council only since this April. The problem has worsened since the adjacent River Park Leisure Centre closed in the spring.

A report with a firm proposal is due before the January meeting of the forum, a group of city councillors who represent the city wards.

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