ARCHERS and footballers clashed at a heated town council meeting on Tuesday as a row over plans for Green Lane playing fields in Devizes kicked off.
Devizes Bowmen were upset that they had not been consulted about a revised layout of the fields created so an artificial pitch with floodlights can be built without affecting bats.
They claimed the new plan did not allow them enough space to shoot safely and warned the club may have to close.
Town clerk Simon Fisher admitted that more consultation should have happened but he was worried the whole scheme could flounder unless a revised scheme was drawn up quickly. He said: “It has been on a knife edge since the summer and was in danger of failing.”
Mike Harford representing Bishops Cannings youth football club accused the archers of being selfish and said: “There are a lot of children in this town who do not have anywhere to practice.”
He said it was vital that the project, which includes changing rooms and a base for the Wiltshire FA, was not delayed.
But the argument reached some resolution when Neil Lockhart from the Bowmen said that if the archery area was turned to face in the opposite direction it could work.
Mr Fisher said only the area of the 3G pitch and the changing rooms was part of the planning application and the grass pitches and archery space could be adapted afterwards.
In the run up to the town council meeting the archers had said disabled members would not be able to reach the new proposed area.
Among its members affected is Bob Soutar who was left paralysed after a sky diving accident and took up archery after moving to Devizes five years ago.
The former member of Team GBs judo squad said in a letter to the town council: “I broke my neck at the beginning of 2003 and for the last 15 years have been confined to a wheelchair as a tetraplegic.
“It would appear to me that the new plans for the Green Lane field would include moving the archery range to a position that would make it difficult or even impossible for me to use. To continue my participation in the sport would require me to travel to Chippenham instead of my local club just half a mile away from where I live.”
In a letter to the town council Bowmen chairman Venita King and Mr Lockhart said: “The latest planning application by the town council has left our club dismayed and disappointed in the failure of the town council to engage and consult with the club as established users of the site.
“The revised development now severely encroaches on the space required for the club to shoot safely and comply with all the requirements of Archery GB and our public liability insurance. If approved this means the club, which has been in the town for over 50 years, will be forced to relocate or simply close.”
The plan will be discussed by the eastern area planning committee on November 29.
This article originally appeared on Gazette & Herald
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