A GROUP of young footballers say they have been made homeless after the new owners of a community sport ground in Mill Hill raised the cost of pitch hire for them.

Pinnacle FC have played at the Chase Lodge Playing Fields for the past ten years, but say they now face a nomadic existence because they have been priced off the Page Street site.

The fields in Page Street were run by Camden Council but have now been taken over by the Camden Community Football and Sports Association (CCFSA) in a bid to regenerate them.

The CCFSA is made up of Hampstead FC's youth division and semi-professional men's team Kentish Town FC, who aim to move there from their current base at the Copthall Stadium.

Lysa Martin, 33, whose father Cuthbert started Pinnacle FC as a means to get disadvantaged kids off the street said they now face an uncertain future.

She told the Times Series: “The amount the prices have gone up we just can't afford to play there any more. Kids come from all over to play for us and now we've been made homeless.

“The way we run the club is to take £2 subs from each player every week and that is to cover everything.

“A lot of our players are from underprivileged backgrounds. They said they wanted to get local clubs involved, but we're a local team and we're being forced out.”

She said the prices went from £36 a game for the 11-a-side pitches to £55, and from £10 for the smaller 7-a-side ones to £45.

Pinnacle, which has around 150 players in eight teams from Under 8s to Under 18s have now worked out a temporary deal to use Belmont Football Club's ground in Edgware and the Barnet Copthall Stadium until the end of the season.

Ms Martin added: “My father passed away four years ago but we wanted to keep it going in his memory. His aim was to give kids something to do and keep them off the streets.

“Some of them have gone on to get professional contracts with teams like Reading and Norwich, which is their dream.

“But I'm worried unless we can find a permanent home now we may start to lose players. We've had to make some scheduled home games into away fixtures to help out so we're already disadvantaged.”

However, Diane Culligan, the chairman of the CCFSA said they had offered pitches on reduced terms to the club.

She said: “The prices we have are quite similar to those Camden Council was using before we took over. But from what they have said to me I don't think they were paying those sort of prices.

“I did offer them a discounted rate as we're very keen to see them involved but they said they were going to use Copthall now.

“We can't change the prices and offer them pitches at much lower prices than other teams, that would be unfair.”

CCFSA has also changed the pricing structure to ensure pitches were booked properly, meaning most booking for match days were for two hours.

She added: “We want to be involved with local clubs but we have to charge for it or we won't be able to make the place so much better.

“We value what they do for local kids but they have to find funding elsewhere. They can't turn up to use the pitches and just pay 50 per cent of the listed prices.

“If they want to just charge one or two pounds-a-week that's their concern, but they need to go to the council or someone and say they are doing social work and need funding. It doesn't make sense to do it any other way.”

The CCFSA has already announced plans to build a stand and temporary pitches on the 16-acre site, which was handed over to them by Camden Council at the beginning of the month.