Conservative Councillor Tony Humphries is reported in the Echo today:
A COUNCILLOR has appealed to landowners for help to provide more football pitches for young people in Rayleigh.
Rayleigh town and Rochford district councillor Tony Humphries has been in the middle of a dispute over the use of pitches at King George V playing field, in Eastwood Road.
He said: “There is no doubt there is an increasing crisis in Rayleigh, especially after the loss of the pitches at Park School because of the redevelopment of the site.
advertisement“There are major problems on King George V playing field because of the pressure it is under at the moment.”
Mr Humphries added the current situation would only be made worse with proposals to build an extra 1,800 houses in the town by 2021.
He added: “What I am hoping for is someone to come forward who has land available and would be interested in looking at providing additional pitches….
After all the times we’ve argued in the council chamber about a lack of facilities in Rayleigh. it’s good to see that someone in the Conservative party is finally waking up to this. What Cllr Humphries is basically admitting is that despite having a vast majority on the District Council and the Town Council , the Conservatives have failed to provide enough sports pitches for the population we already have , let alone the increase if we have 1,800 more houses.
But all credit to him – the next step is for someone to defy the Tory party whip and vote with the Lib Dems on issues like this.