After a run of almost 50 years, Meadowbank Stadium will shut its doors on 3rd December, the city council has confirmed. The closure of the flagship venue, which was built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games, will mark the start of major redevelopment plans to create a new state-of-the-art sports centre on the same site. Continue reading Last lap for Meadowbank as December closure confirmed
On this miserable Sunday morning, indoor climbing seems like a really good idea …
Some of Europe’s finest young climbers are taking part in the IFSC European Youth Championships at the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena at Ratho this weekend.
Around two hundred and fifty climbers from more than 25 different countries are competing for medals on ‘The Hanger’, ‘Speed Wall’ and the ‘North West Wall’.
Each event has a variety of categories including age, gender and discipline at the EICA:Ratho, which is managed on behalf of the Council by Edinburgh Leisure.
The Youth Cup began yesterday and action kicked off again early this morning – the event runs from 7:30am – 4pm today with the awards ceremony at 3:30pm. Visitors can drop in and out at any time.
Councillor Richard Lewis, Culture and Sport Convener, said: “I am delighted that Edinburgh is hosting this exciting event at EICA:Ratho. It is a fantastic climbing venue with world class facilities and residents can attend the event and watch it for free. Young climbers will show off their skills and you can cheer them on and learn all about climbing at Ratho and the skills you can develop.”
Visit Edinburgh Leisure for further details. If you can’t make it along, the competitions will be streamed live here.
A £1 million fund to help communities own and run their own sport facilities was announced by the Minister for Commonwealth Games yesterday.
The Legacy 2014 Sustainable Sport for Communities Fund will distribute up to £1 million to support the sustainability and capacity of aspiring and existing social enterprises delivering sport and physical activity in communities across Scotland.
The Sustainable Sport for Communities Fund is made up of an investment of £500,000 from the Scottish Government and £500,000 from The Robertson Trust.
The announcement of the fund, the 51st national Legacy 2014 programme, was made in the middle of a Legacy Week, a national celebration of the long term benefits of the Commonwealth Games.
Speaking at the 2014 Games Legacy: Scotland’s Sporting Future at our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, Minister Shona Robison said:
“A legacy from the Games has to be long term improvements in levels of physical activity. Already, Scotland’s 126 Community Sports Hubs are proving a powerful and effective way to give people more opportunities to be active.
“There are an increasing number of social enterprises providing a wide range of community and social benefits and we are committed to empowering local groups and enabling them to operate facilities and deliver services
“Where groups are looking to take on the running or ownership of facilities, these ambitions must be supported by the local community backed up by a robust, sustainable business case. These are crucial to whether a social enterprise can succeed and the Fund will help with this, building on existing support available and utilising the sector’s expertise.”
Kenneth Ferguson, Director, The Robertson Trust said: “The Robertson Trust have been working in the field of community sport for a number of years and we are delighted to be able to make this investment which we believe will make a significant contribution to enhancing the capacity and sustainability of the sector.”
Alastair Davis, CEO of Social Investment Scotland, said “Social Investment Scotland has supported a number of sports related social enterprises access the finance they need to realise their ambitions. A project like this is essential for the grassroots development of sport social enterprises, providing the opportunity not only to access essential funds, but also to tap into the knowledge and expertise from likeminded social entrepreneurs within the sector.”
A community campaign to reopen Leith Waterworld has voiced concerns over a late £1 million bid to buy the building and reopen it as a soft play centre. Splashback are urging councillors to show conviction and to stick with commitments made in January.
Councillors voted to give further support the community initiative in January, and since then Splashback have been working with the city council to progress the feasibility of reopening Waterworld as a social enterprise – so news of a fresh bid for Waterworld has not been welcomed.
In a statement, the group said: “We were delighted when, on 31 January this year, the city’s Councillors overwhelmingly voted to work with Splashback and to establish a working group to develop the business plan for a community-run Leith Waterworld. This reflected the administration’s desire to work cooperatively with the citizens of Edinburgh, as set out in the Capital Coalition agreement. Over the last three and a half months, we have worked with Councillors and officials in good faith, and while there remains much still to do, we have made significant progress, including developing a fundraising plan and applying for charitable status.”
The statement continues: “The development of Leith Waterworld as a community-led social enterprise would support the first two partnership commitments of the coalition, namely ‘ensuring every child in Edinburgh has the best start in life’ and ‘reducing poverty, inequality and deprivation’. The coalition agreement acknowledged the breakdown in trust between the residents of Edinburgh and their elected representatives, and that the city will be able to judge the Council against the promises it makes in the agreement.
“Splashback understands that this new bid leaves Councillors with a decision to make at next week’s Full Council meeting – whether to continue working with us to achieve a revitalised Leith Waterworld, or to pursue the new bid at this stage. However, we have faith in the letter and the spirit of the amendment carried on 31 January, and believe that the conviction displayed by Councillors on that day will guide their decision. We look forward to continuing to work with the Council to deliver on the commitments they made in January.”
Councillor Richard Lewis, the city’s Culture and Sport Convener, said: “Over the last few months officials and elected members have been working closely with Splashback to progress the feasibility phase of their community bid to run Leith Waterworld. I’d like to thank Splashback for their continued commitment to developing their community bid.
“The council had agreed in January to re-market the property whilst we were supporting the feasibility phase of Splashback’s bid and in the intervening months we received two new unsolicited notes of interest in purchasing Leith Waterworld, one of which is being taken to council for consideration.”
Councillors will discuss the bid – and receive a progress report on the Splashback initiative – at next Thursday’s full council meeting.
Councillors will decide today (31 January) whether to back a community bid to operate Leith Waterworld.
An officer report, which will be considered at today’s council meeting, concludes that the revised business case submitted by campaign group, Splashback, is not commercially viable and does not offer best value to the Council, and recommends that the property be remarketed for sale. However campaigners believe that their plans do stack up and that Leith Waterdworld could be reopened as early as October this year.
Councillors agreed on 20 September to offer an extension to the campaigners and to provide dedicated assistance from the Council’s Economic Development unit to enable them to prepare a more robust business case.
The revised submission features two options: the first would be to operate the venue using its existing facilities; the second would add a large soft play feature in the glass entrance atrium and create a new café.
Both options would still require a significant ongoing subsidy from the Council, for which no budget currently exists, and neither would generate the funds required to help pay for the recently completed refurbishment of the Royal Commonwealth Pool.
The process had previously been postponed for six months to allow Splashback to come forward with alternative proposals for the pool, which has been closed since January 2012. This followed a decision taken in 2005 to put the property up for sale.
Splashback, the community group set up to save Leith Waterworld, believes their figures stack up. They claim:
We will be asking the Council on 31st January for an agreement in principle, to allow us to progress with more detailed planning and fundraising. At the end of six months, we would take the shared decision with the Council whether to progress to reopening, which is currently rescheduled for October 2013.”
Splashback conclude: “With the massive success of the Olympics and the Paralympics last year and the
Commonwealth Games next year, there is much talk, at the moment, of ‘legacy’. There appears to be a growing awareness and understanding that yes whilst these elite events can provide an amazing spectacle, more than that participation and sport can make a real difference at community level. Dundee Council are
currently building a new leisure pool at the cost of £31m, as are Perth at the cost of £15m. Edinburgh has had no leisure pool for over a year. We hope that the Council after reading our business plan, share with us, the desire to rectify that and reopen Leith Waterworld.”
Cllr Richard Lewis, Culture and Leisure Convener, said: “I said previously that I would be delighted if an affordable and achievable community bid came forward and I acknowledge the time and effort that Splashback have invested in this. We gave the group the opportunity to bring back a more robust bid and it is now up to us as councillors to consider the arguments and reach a decision in the best interests of the city.”
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