Sport loves its cliches; at the end of the day, we are over the moon and we should all be playing on a level playing field.

But there is one cliche that absolutely fits the bill when it comes to the ban of grassroots sport during this recent lockdown - you don't know what you have got until it has gone.

Whether you agree or not about stopping youngsters form going outdoors and playing football, rugby, hockey, netball - whatever - while they can get up close and personal on the school bus, classroom and goodness knows where else, it can not be disputed that the physical and mental wellbeing of our boys and girls is seriously damaged by keeping them cooped up at home, most probably in their bedrooms with a computer screen, tablet or phone.

It was partly with this in mind that I eavesdropped on the Layham Road Working Group's Zoom meeting, which was open to the public bar a couple of commercially sensitive items, and heard a lot of common sense being spoken about how to best utilise the open space for the benefit of various sports clubs for generations to come.

While a few necessary details were dealt with, including permission for containers to be to be temporarily located on site for the rugby club, and pit markings and groundskeeping, the interesting part was the group's plans for the future.

It was mainly a brainstorming session chaired by Rolf Beggerow, a town councillor and Hadleigh United chairman, who makes no secret that he has a vested interest in improving the community's sports facilities, in particular for young people.

The first thing that was made clear, and should be underlined, no matter what plans will eventually come to fruition, the Layham Road sports pitches will always remain open to the public, the caveat is set in stone and will live on in perpetuity.

What is less certain is what the future holds in terms of how the green space can be best utilised for a diverse range of sports clubs and groups, oh and the Scouts of course. Then there is also the question of who will manage and run the facility on behalf of the collective.

At the moment the area is shared by the football club, from five to 55, the rugby club, tennis club and scouts, with a running club and individuals using it for fitness training, but as with most things there is strength in unity.

Secure tenures help in terms of funding and even in these straitened times, there are funders out there, from the Football Foundation, Sport England, National Lottery and councils, keen to invest money into our young sports people, no matter their ability.

A Vision document was presented and discussed. It was agreed that additional clubs, such as the netball, or the gymnastics club, would be added to the report before it was presented to the full council. On of the main requests, which would be costly, was the idea of a multi-use 3G area.

Cllr Beggerow said: "There is nothing hard and fast at the moment. As we progress moving forward, should we get the endorsement of the town council, then we will be engaging heavily with the public, and that will be the next step for this document. We will invite feedback from the whole community."

There was widespread agreement that the initial Vision document was ready to be presented to the town council, who will have its say before it goes out to wider public consultation.

Less certain was the future of the pavilion, with the question of the council accepting the proposed insurance settlement to be confirmed. That will be resolved this week, and it appears the consensus is again looking ahead positively. To that end Cllr Beggerow proposed a small groups started putting together a draft plan for the pavilion, complementing the single storey planning permission which already has planning permission. This would include officer space to manage the facility so best use by various clubs could use the pavilion.

One of the ideas put forward was for the area below the footprint of the proposed site, and utilising the natural slope, to ensure as many clubs could use the space as possible.

Another poser brought forward was for the football and rugby club, along with a couple of other clubs, was how the council will run the new look, expanded Layham Road sports ground and pavilion.

While Hadleigh United has a 25 year lease at Millfield and pays ground rent, the rugby club uses the pitches on a hire basis with no security of tenure, however a new structure could help them secure long term funding.

There is a possibility of the town council not taking direct responsibility for the management of their land assets and passing it on to another organisation.

Abbeycroft (a non-profit sports management company), which runs many of Babergh's leisure sites, was mentioned as an example, although it is possible a new organisation could be formed. With that in mind Cllr Beggerow suggested the council could look at acquiring more land for sports provision.

Cllr Carol Shleip argued a business case needed to be put together and other group members agreed that should be considered if the council were happy to look at using an outside body to run the large multi-use sports ground, remembering it still needed to be open for public use.

Cllr Andrew Knock agreed in principle that Layham Road sports ground should be expanded and the vision would be off benefit to the wider community and potentially for a large group of various clubs and users. He also asked if there was land available so the council's provision of sport could be expanded, but without the need to build more changing facilities, and the extra cost that could be be incurred to the taxpayer.

It is important to note though that these are no more than ideas and thoughts being formulated by the working group members. The final proposals will be put to the full town council tomorrow (Thursday November 19}, the public will be consulted and the vision and decisions scrutinised.

To be fair, the boys, and girl, played a blinder, they are taking it one game at a time, tomorrow is another day, and there is still a long way to go yet.