Test Valley Borough Council has teamed up with Pitchbooking to launch a new automated booking system for the council’s sports pitches.

Previously, residents and sports clubs across the borough who wanted to use the pitches, would have to ring through and manually book. Now, the system, which launches on September 14, will allow a completely online service which will run 24 hours a day.

Those hiring the pitches can select which location they wish to book, select a time and have the option of a recurring booking, and pay.

The council’s previous arrangement came to an end, and, following an application process, the authority is now teaming up with Pitchbooking.

Community and leisure portfolio holder, councillor Ian Jeffrey, said: “Following the end of our previous agreement, we really wanted to see what options were available to make booking our pitches as easy and accessible as possible for everybody.

“We have some fantastic locations that are well used by our communities, so I’m very pleased that we now have a round-the-clock service available online that can be used on multiple devices. My thanks to everyone involved and Pitchbooking themselves for getting this exciting new service up and running.”