Resort needs an athletics facility (From Dorset Echo)

Resort needs an athletics facility

10:00am Thursday 9th February 2012 in Your letters

UK Athletics have identified Weymouth as an area of Key Strategic Importance to have an athletics facility but unfortunately Dorset County Council seems to disagree with these experts.

We need a lasting sporting legacy for the people of Weymouth that all can enjoy not just the elite few.

With the unsuccessful bid at Redlands we need to look at the Marsh as a lasting sports legacy for the people of Weymouth.

The Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge offers the opportunity to finally place an all-weather athletics facility in the heart of the community which will put Wey-mouth on the map for athletics.

But at a full council meeting the Marsh was rejected by the council to be included on the list of outdoor recreational spaces to be protected. We need to reverse this decision before it is too late.

We have been campaigning for an all-weather athletics facility in Weymouth since 2006 and have gathered momentum and support and we are now at the stage where people are starting to look at the possibility of a sports facility actually happening here.

We need funding for this project and the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge offers the best chance we have of getting access to these funds and being able to leave a real legacy to our children and the community as a whole in Wey-mouth and surrounding areas.

There are many organisations interested in supporting sport projects financially but they cannot do it on their own.

The project is too big for that so we need help and support from the local business community and I’m confident that the businesses in Weymouth will help to support this worthwhile cause.

It doesn’t just benefit youth in the community it also benefits everyone else too as it gives people access to general fitness facilities all year round and not just when the sun shines.

This is a large and important project for Weymouth and we believe as parents and as members of the community that the Marsh, which has a long historical affinity with sports here in Weymouth, would be a chance lost if it were overlooked in the bigger picture for Weymouth.

The local council needs to look forward and have clear vision of what this will do for the community as a whole and the town too and make the correct decisions when they need too and not lose a golden opportunity for Weymouth.

Frank Faulkner Lichfield Road Weymouth