Members of Kingskerswell Sports Committee have been left baffled and confused as to whether they are still running the playing field pavilion. The parish council failed to reach a conclusion on the future management of the facility, when it met at the venue on Monday.

The committee, including members of the village football teams and cricket club, had overseen the pavilion for many years until the council – which has an office there – decided it wanted to run the building for the whole community.

At the meeting, councillors discussed the future of the pavilion and proposals were made, but due to talking over one another and not coming to any agreement, no long-term plans were made about who would run it. Paul Mitchell, representing Kingskerswell Cricket Club at the meeting, was angry that no decisions were made.

'We haven't a clue what is going on and no solutions were found,' he later said. 'I have been talking to members of the football club who use the pavilion and they have no idea whether it is their responsibility any more to open up the venue for matches. We are all upset.

'We've suggested that the council pay a set fee and the cricket and football team do the same, so we all run it together, but we really don't know what is going on at the moment.'

Mr Mitchell's father, Bert, who is president of the cricket club and chairman of the sports committee, said he was hurt by the way the council was acting. 'I have been connected with the field and pavilion for many years and put in hours and hours of voluntary work. I haven't even been kept informed with what's going on,' he said after the meeting.

'Williams Adams left the field to the parish of Kingskerswell and the trustees are the parish council, and the pavilion has been run by the sports committee. He gave it to the parish as he wanted it to be used as a playing field and recreational area, and the pavilion stands on that land,' he said. 'It was built by voluntary contribution and the parish council didn't spend a penny on it,' said Mr Bert Mitchell.

At the meeting, Cllr Mike Hewitt stated that the pavilion belonged to the whole parish. 'We haven't said we want to take over the sports side of things. We should just run the pavilion for the use of the village,' he said.

However, Cllr Derek Miller seemed alarmed about the way the council was handling the matter, as the issue of managing the pavilion was not on the previous month's agenda when it was discussed, and he questioned whether the takeover would be legal. 'This is way out of order,' he said. 'We have to be aware of the way we do business and we should reconsider the way it is done. We've let the sports club down with the way we are dealing with it all.'

Cllr Hewitt said that the issue had been discussed with Simon Barnes, Teignbridge Council solicitor, and it was decided the council had acted legitimately. Cllr John Hartley said he believed that Mr Adams gave the land as a deed of gift and the council needed to get the deed to determine who owned the land the pavilion stands on. Both Cllr Miller and Cllr David Corney-Walker supported Cllr Hartley's idea. Cllr Miller added that the council should look into running costs before making a decision on the pavilion.