PEWSEY Parish Council needed the casting vote of its chairman when it agreed to transfer the freehold of its new playing field at Wilcot Road to the National Playing Fields Association.

The council was split seven votes to seven at last week's full council meeting on options to hand over the freehold, which cost the council £42,000 and on which it has a mortgage, or sign a 'deed of dedication' by which the council would retain the freehold but the NPFA would provide protection in perpetuity against development of the land.

Chairman Coun Colin Lampard, said he decided to cast his vote in favour of transferring the freehold after hearing a report by Coun Ann Hayhoe about a recent meeting of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations which cast doubt on the future of parish councils.

Ms Hayhoe told the meeting she had spoken to several organisations that helped the Government create its policies and they said they had no relationships with parish councils at all.

She said: "It is depressing they didn't think that parish councillors were the right people to deliver services in rural areas."

She added the only way the parish council might survive was if it could show itself to be a 'quality council', which would involve having representation among the disabled and ethnic minority communities.

Coun Lampard said: "We cannot be sure the parish council will be around in ten years time. If we signed a deed of dedication and the parish council disappeared then the agreement would be void.

"We want to protect the piece of land in perpetuity. This is normal practice and the best way of protecting the land. It is the last piece of flat land in Pewsey and we had to pay over the odds for it. There are a lot of developers who would be very keen to get hold of it for house building."

The council took out a mortgage with the Public Works Loan Board last year to buy the 8.5-acre piece of land from the Yates family. They agreed to pay £4,000 a year for 25 years. The Angela Yates Memorial Ground will now be available to local sports clubs to develop their facilities.

One of the conditions of the sale was that the field should remain in community ownership as a sports ground and a covenant to that effect has been included in the deed of sale.

But councillors were concerned that there were ways of having the covenant lifted to allow the field to be developed.

They approached the NPFA for its advice and was told of the two available options.

Mr Lampard added: "The NPFA is able to offer us such a wide-ranging package and it can protect us legally. I know it looks like we're giving away land we have bought and paid for but the council will still, in effect, own and run it for the good of the community."

But half the councillors at last week's meeting did not feel the same way.

Coun Bert Shorter said: "I am not at all happy about handing over the freehold of this land.

"The reason I voted in favour of taking out the loan was that the parish council would buy it and let the local clubs use it.

"I still think we should go on the way we started off with the parish council owning it and working with the clubs."

Coun John Cooke was also against the transfer of the freehold, preferring the option of the deed of dedication.

He said: "I am totally opposed to this, it would be like giving £42,000 away."

nkerton@newswilts.co.uk