HITCHIN: Bim Afolami MP has welcomed more than £800k in funding to support grassroots football in Hitchin and Harpenden - as inroads are slowly being made into decades worth of neglect and sell-offs relating to school and municipal pitches.

Mr Afolami has welcomed financial support for the Priory School in Hitchin, and nearby Holwell Parish Council, as well as further afield with Wheathampstead Parish Council in Harpenden, in order to improve the quality of sporting facilities for the local area.

After decades that saw successive governments sell-off school and municipal pitches, Mr Afolami welcomed the announcement that 178 projects across the UK, including his constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden, will receive extra funding to support grassroots football in their local communities.

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act for a Guardian newspaper article confirmed more than 700 council football pitches have been lost since 2010 up and down the country.

While this initial investment in Hitchin and Harpenden will not reverse decades worth of lost football pitches, invariably sold to property developers for housing, the move is a positive one.

Research by the GMB workers union revealed 215 school pitches had been sold since 2010, under Conservative and Liberal Democrat governments, similar to the number sold under Labour prior to that.

However, Mr Afolami said: "This new funding from the Conservative Government, the FA, and the Premier League, will make sure that more people can enjoy the benefits of coming together and playing sport."

Mr Afolami added: "Too many communities across the UK do not already have access to the high standard of local sports facilities that they need and deserve.

"I welcome more than £800k in investment from the Conservative Government, the FA, and the Premier League for three organisations in Hitchin and Harpenden, which will support upgrades to changing rooms, pitches, and pavilions – widening access so that even more local residents can benefit from high quality sports facilities.

"Access to high quality facilities and increased participation can be transformational – this investment in grassroots sport will improve physical and mental wellbeing and bring our communities together."

Over the next four years, a package of investment worth £230 million will build or improve up to 8,000 football pitches across the UK – supporting the construction or refurbishment of clubhouses, changing facilities, and community buildings.

The new investment will widen access so that new generations and more local communities can come together, take up sport, and access high-quality facilities.