Sports Minister Tony Banks has intervened in the row over Shenley Cricket Centre.

The fate of the centre could stay unresolved for as long as another year while rows continue between the parties involved.

Villagers gave whole-hearted approval in December last year to a proposed bid by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to take over the running of the superb ground, laid out by WG Grace.

The MCC agreed to sign a sub-lease with Shenley Park Trust and adopt the ground as its second, country home, making it a centre of excellence.

But now the cricket club and Secretary of State for the Department of Health are locked in an argument over a deal made which says the land should remain an open space.

A spokeswoman from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "Tony Banks has been in touch with the Department of Health to find out the background to all this.

"He has gone to talk to the MCC and advised them to talk to the regional health department and Hertsmere Borough Council. He has been trying to advise them on how to resolve the issue."

The North Thames Region's NHS spokesman Andy Allsop explained the problem. He said: "The cricket ground borders on or includes part of Shenley Hospital site.

"In the early Nineties the Secretary of State for Health entered into an agreement with the borough council that the land should be open for public use without any bar, seven days a week.

"The MCC's centre of excellence would negate that deal or covenant. The position on behalf of the Secretary of State is that the terms of the original agreement should still stand.

"And as the idea is in contravention of that it is opposed."

The MCC has a temporary lease at the centre due to expire this time next year and is said to have previously approached former Prime Minister John Major with its proposal.

"The NHS was prepared to vary the agreement to use grounds for matches only but not as a centre, which would necessitate the area being closed off," added Mr Allsop.

If the MCC succeed in their bid to run the centre, it is planned to continue with a diverse range of grass roots cricket, from youth to women's cricket as well as staging more prestigious games, with the local community being encouraged to get involved.

Shenley cricket centre has been established since 1993.

It is already a centre of excellence for cricket within Hertfordshire, catering for all age ranges and abilities.

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