LEISURE chiefs believe they have scored a winner with weekend soccer players in Chorley.

For the council's football pitches are among the cheapest in the North West, according to a recent survey.

Chorley Borough Council charges £17.75 - due to rise to £18.20 from April - for each adult match, with juniors currently paying £8.75, set to increase to £9.10.

Seasonal charges will shortly go up to £170 and £85 respectively.

This compares to a staggering £49.90 per match in Bury, the most expensive charge in the North West.

Pendle are runners-up in the charging league at £47.90 and third come Oldham on £43.

At the bottom of the table are Stockport on just £10.59, next to bottom St.Helens who charge £11 and directly above them Liverpool on £14.85.

Chorley are currently ninth from bottom out of a total of 31 local authorities in the region.

A Chorley leisure services spokesman said: "We charge either for the pitch or the full season, it depends on the team.

"The charge includes the pitch, the changing rooms and we mark out the pitches."

He added: "We want to encourage sport on playing fields and we thought to keep charges at a reasonable rate was the right thing to do."

The Saturday soccer pitch survey came from the GMB union which slammed the Government for forcing councils to accept ground maintenance bids from private contractors and for cutting funding.

Mick Graham, GMB national secretary, said: "The cheap amateur Saturday football match, one of Britain's most popular pastimes, is now big business.

"As the Tories have gradually contracted out local government services, so companies have come in to take their cut of the action."

The survey identified Newcastle-under-Lyme as the most expensive charger in the country at £55. North Dorset was the cheapest on just £4.60.

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