North Halifax bowling green rent increase

Below is the council response to my e-mail, asking why bowling club rents will double this year. Many members are elderly and will find it difficult to meet this rise.
Good Morning Cllr Bates

I apologise for the delay in responding to your emails of last week. 

With regards the increase in the bowls season ticket price I have the following information, which I would also be happy for you to distribute.  The bowls season ticket has undergone such a substantial increase for the 2011/12 season due to  ticket prices being maintained at an artificially low price for a number of years.  Regular maintenance of a bowling green is demanding of both labour and materials, over a twelve month period but particularly between March and October, last year bowling green maintenance cost the council £7,000 per green.  Whilst the council are able to provide a subsidised facility for our residents, we are unable to maintain such a significant difference between the cost of maintenance against the revenue received. To ensure that ticket prices remain good value to our customers we have completed research in to other local private club costs and also those of our neighbouring authorities, we established the following:

Private Clubs
Booth Town £25.00
Thrumhall £40.00
Hipperholme & Lightcliffe £20.00

Neighbouring Local Authorities
Kirklees Community Bowling is £15.00 membership.
Bradford 2011 ( outdoor prices):- £50.21 per season or £37.66

We do however appreciate that this is a significant increase at relatively short notice to our bowls clubs, if there are clubs that are experiencing difficulty in meeting the full cost, we would be happy to offer an option to pay over two instalments.  If you are aware of any clubs who would like to take up this offer please ask them to contact Diane Atha on 01422 393255.