A VILLAGE will pay for drainage improvements to stop a football pitch becoming waterlogged.

Members of Hartley Wintney Parish Council agreed to pay £7,500 for the work for the main pitch at Hartley Wintney Football Club, in Green Lane.

The work includes installation of a main drain, with a sump and pump taking excess water into an existing culvert.

A parish council meeting was told the football club’s first team, which plays in the Combined Counties League Premier Division, had to call off a number of their games last season due to water on the pitch. The land is owned by the parish council and leased to the football club.

Parish clerk Leah Coney said: “Last season, there was some exceptionally bad weather and when they cancelled a match on a Saturday, they lost £500 on the turnstiles. So they are down on funds themselves to be able to fund it.”

She added that 15 years ago, a drain on the site was covered for health and safety reasons, and that might have reduced the amount of water taken from the playing surface.

Councillor Tony Woods claimed the football club was “getting away with murder” in coming to the parish council for money when other organisations had to raise cash themselves.

But other councillors said the parish council, as the landlord, was responsible for the drainage.

Cllr Roger Robertson said: “We should bite the bullet as landlords and fund it.”

Members agreed to fund the work.