Reading football pitch 'ruined by car parking' say residents

The park was heavily churned up following Saturday's match

A public park has been "ruined" by weekend junior football matches, residents have claimed.

Photos show Cintra Park, near the university area of Reading, heavily churned up after play on Saturday.

Young footballers are allowed to use the ground of the park for matches, with parents having permission to park their cars on the ground.

Reading Borough Council said it review the park's use and introduce a "fallow" period to allow it to recover.

Resident Oliver Butler said the damage to the ground was an "abuse of a public space."

"Why is Reading Borough Council allowing Cintra Park to be ruined by overuse for football and football parking?

"The park literally gets no rest now and football is being prioritised over every other use," he added.

Parents and guardians have been allowed to park on the grass

The council said the park had been used for many years by the Berkshire Youth Development League and parking had been allowed to reduce the impact on local side roads.

"The league usually carefully assess the ground before matches to both protect the football pitches and also to determine whether the ground is capable of being parked on without damage.

"On this occasion, unfortunately the assessment was mistaken, with heavy rain during the morning exacerbating the problem further and leading to damage to the parkland.

"As a result, we have prohibited parking in this area to enable the ground to recover for at least the rest of the season, giving it at least five months undisturbed, and we are reviewing with the league how a repeat of this situation can be prevented in future before the park is used for this purpose again," it said.

Berkshire Youth Development League is run by the Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Football Association, which has been contacted for comment.