This has been questioned in recent months by both town councillors and residents who believe charging should be in line with the other sports.
Boules players, including former town councillor Roger Hutchinson, say the facility should remain free becasue the players bring revenue to the Ratepayers Arms. All other sports played pay for the hire of courts,then also use the ratepayers bringing revenue to the ratepayers arms, which is heavily subsidised by Filton taxpayers and own by the council.
In November, Labour Filton Councillor and Captain of the boules team, Roger Hutchinson, interrupted a finance meeting from the public gallery to prevent a council vote on the introduction of charges, stating the council would lose reveneue from the boules teams as they would play elsewhere. He was asked by the chair of finance to refrain from interrupting but Mr Hutchinson persisted when he was not permitted to speak.
At the following finance meeting, the new leisure centre manager, presented proposed charges for the boules and cycle track. Labour Councillor Andrew Chubb, who had declared an interest in the boules, heavily questioned the manager on the fact unfair comparisons between boules and bowls had been made. Mr Chubb had also posted on a magazine website in November that "Rightly, or wrongly, there is currently no charging structure for using the boules piste in Filton. It is not for me to speculate why this is. That would be a decision for Finance, Full Council, and any residents that choose to attend those public meetings" Mr Chubb is in fact a member of the finance committee and went on to reject the suggested new charges, despite calls from residents to charge fairly for all sports. At the meeting finance agreed to review the proposed charges as a result.
Filton Athletic football club wrote to a local magazine complaining that preferential treatment was being given to boules, claiming they pay to use pitches and provide revenue to the ratepayers arms, so others should too.
The courts cost over £10,000 for the council to build and include floodlights, scoreboard and benches. The council maintenance team are asked to rake the courts prior to team matches.
At the town council meeting this week, Conservative Councillor Rikki Teml said boules teams in other parts of the UK were usually charged an annual subscription to play, in some cases around £20.
Councillors said that in the case of the cycle speedway, they needed to establish whether or not participants who paid would have exclusive access.
Leisure centre manager Lisa Timbrell recommended a £500 annual charge for the local cycle speedway club, in line with Newport in Wales, but councillors deferred a decision until next month. The cycle track cost £50,000 to build and a loss of £17,000 happened when councillors at the time, including Mr Hutchinson, decided to build the cyclre track on top of foundations for a new skate park, which was moved. Filton people,a local charity, had donated the £17,000 to the council.
There is currently no Filton cycle team, whoi have struggled for number for several years and the track is mainly used for meetings from outside Filton, including Newport. The Newport cycle speedway pay £500 a year for use of the Newport speedway track.
Residents claim that preferential treatment is being shown to the boules and cycle track, as they are hobbies of both serving Labour town councillors and Labour South Glos councillor, Roger Hutchinson.
An Audit Commission report in 2010, heavily criticsed previous council, for failing to manage financial risks and making decisions that were not in the public interest.It also became apparent that meetings relating to the cycle track and boules had not been quorate (the minimum number of required councillors in attendance) and some minutes had gone missing.
Only last week it was reported that Filton Labour branch will be discussing Filton town matters in private, at future meetings.
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