A FOOTBALL team from Trowbridge is being forced to play its home games eight miles away from the county town because of an ongoing furore over pitches.

Trowbridge and District Football League side FC Northbridge will have to play their home games at Christie Miller sports centre in Melksham because pitches at Lambrok Road will not be ready until September 2004.

Furious football officials believe vandals, BMX bikers and dog walkers could hamper the pitch project even further and are demanding security measures be put in place at the Trowbridge site.

Tim Penwell, development officer for the Trowbridge league, said newly-sewn pitches at Lambrok Road were already showing signs of vandalism threatening the future of the game in Trowbridge. He said: "If the council do not provide immediate security, which is possible at a low cost and display appropriate signs, then more money will be poured down the drain.

"Wooden gates and fences that have been erected to separate the two areas already bear evidence of vandalism.

"Lambrok is desperately needed for both youth and junior soccer but it may never come about."

Football teams were due to play on the two pitches when the new season kicks off in just over a month's time but delays hampered the project.

Developer Redrow Homes provided the pitches as part of a housing deal with West Wiltshire District Council in 2001, but they were deemed unplayable when jagged rocks began poking through the topsoil.

Trowbridge Town Council was forced to use part of a £60,000 sum, earmarked towards the upkeep of the pitches, towards emergency remediation work.

Football officials were told the pitches would be usable by May but the project was hit with further delays and will not be ready for use until September 2004 at the earliest.

Trowbridge town councillor Jeff Osborn said he had fielded several calls from people worried about BMX bikes, dog walkers and vandals tearing up the pitch.

"If kids are riding motorbikes across the pitch it will cause massive damage. We need to let the pitches get through the winter so they will be ready for next year," he said.

"It would cost us a lot more to replace the pitches for a second time. It is a problem we need to look at as a town council."

FC Northbridge is one of four new teams playing in the Trowbridge junior league this season.

cevry@newswilts.co.uk