LEISURE chiefs in Burnley will review every council-owned playing pitch in town to see if they are providing the best value for money.

Finance chairman Peter Kenyon called for an investigation after hearing that use of the Prairie pitches in his ward had fallen dramatically.

The recreation committee agreed to take the Prairie's porous pitch out of use, to save £6,00-a-year running costs, after hearing it was booked for one and a half hours throughout June - 0.5 per cent of the available booking time. Members heard that although there were 41 pitches in Burnley, a maximum of 23 games were played at any time and 14 of these were at Towneley.

Running costs at the Prairie, with nine soccer, one rugby and the porous pitch, amounted to almost £45,000-a-year, with income of only £8,000.

Council officers say large scale investment of up to £300,000 was needed but it was unlikely such money would be available in the near future.

Their report states that in wet weather the grass pitches become waterlogged and unplayable and leagues using the grounds had asked not to be allocated Prairie pitches because of the high number of cancelled games.

Coun Kenyon told the committee: "It does seem to me that we as a council are not getting the best value from the current level of pitches."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.