A LEADING Thurrock councillor has been challenged to stand and fight alongside local sporting youngsters and their families to ensure that their football pitches are not lost.

At last night's meeting of Thurrock Council, the cabinet member for environment and sports & leisure, Cllr Aaron Watkins, delivered his fourth annual report on his portfolio, which included an appraisal of sporting facilities and plans for the future of sport across the borough.

After delivering it he was challenged by Homesteads ward's Cllr Gary Byrne on the future of the football pitches currently used by Corringham Athletic.

As recently reported on Thurrock Nub News the pitches, by the side of the Manorway, are in danger of being swallowed up by a proposed residential development which the landowners, Shell, are currently considering.

Cllr Byrne, who as ever was forthright, asked Cllr Watkins if he would stand with any possible campaign to save the pitches, saying: "We need basically to tell Shell to 'do one'."

Quizzing Cllr Watkins he said: "If this report is sound and we really care about sport is it right to say that you will be writing in stone that teams like Corringham Athletic will be able to continue to play football at the Manorway and you will stand up against anything Shell want to throw at us?

"And will you give us a guarantee that those pitches will be saved? Or is this just talk?

"We need basically to tell Shell to 'do one' and keep our youth teams playing football.

"This probably happened everywhere else in Thurrock but our Corringham Athletic is about kids and about sport so will you stand up for them and fight for them?"

Cllr Watkins, who represents the Corringham and Fobbing ward, said: "The answer to that is yes. As I have already committed to seeing spirting change and that doesn't mean destroying the sports groups that we currently do have."