PITCH hire increases have forced a sports club to cut back on training sessions.

Colchester Hockey Club saw fees for using the artifical turf at Colchester Garrison rise by 40 per cent two years ago – and has now been hit by another small hike, bringing costs to £40 an hour from £37.

The long-established group used to make a small annual profit, or at least broken even, but overspent in 2008 and 2009 as the extra charges added up to about £5,000 a season.

Treasurer Ben Harrington said, even without the latest increase, the club only had enough cash saved up to continue meeting the deficit for another two years.

It is reluctant to increase subscription fees to its members – who include dozens of children playing for youth sides – and has instead opted to cut the number of hours it books the pitches for training.

The Garrison pitches are a military facility and are managed by a committee with representatives including the Army and Colchester Council.

Fees have been increased in the interests of fairness, as the charges at Colchester Leisure World are £50 an hour.

But Mr Harrington said, while the club was still getting a better deal than Leisure World customers, he believed the council should be doing more to help out sports clubs.

He said: “It seems we are obsessed with the arts in this town and a lot of money has been spent on the new Firstsite gallery and so on.

“There are thousands of kids getting healthy exercise by joining sports clubs run by volunteers, and there is a case for saying we should get more of a helping hand.

“They have built a tiny car park next to our pitch and painted double yellow lines to stop people parking on the road.

“Besides that, the fees are a big problem for us and we are having to cut back on the number of hours we rent the pitch for. We have no extra money, so we can’t afford to use it for longer than we have money for in the budget.”

No one from Colchester Garrison was available to comment.