A ROW is brewing over claims Olympic organisers are not giving anything back to Portland.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has taken over the football pitch at Officer’s Field so facilities can be built there for athletes.

A councillor believes LOCOG should offer something to the community as way of compensation for the loss of the pitch.

Officer’s Field is a historic site, left over from Royal Navy days, that locals have tried to protect from development.

Eco-homes have been built there but the football field has been kept as public open space.

LOCOG has now closed the site to the public until September because international athletes competing at the Games will be based there. A security fence is being built around it, which is forcing a one-way road restriction around Victory Road and Castle Road.

LOCOG has promised to return the football pitch to the community with new turf and goalposts.

But county councillor for Portland Tim Munro, who was involved in the campaign to save Officer’s Field, would like to see an alternative pitch provided for the public during Games’ time.

He says there is plenty of space to site temporary goalposts on the land off Victoria Square and Portland Beach Road and reckons LOCOG should do this as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

Coun Munro says the community was promised 5.5 acres of this land from the now-defunct Regional Development Agency (RDA) in 2008 by way of compensation for building on Officer’s Field along with £500,000.

This land cannot be built on because it acts as a flood channel. It is used informally by the public but Coun Munro said it has never officially been handed over to the community and is now in the hands of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), which took on the RDA’s assets.

The £500,000 offered by the RDA had supported various island projects including the skatepark and Boscawen Centre but there is £170,000 outstanding. The HCA says this remaining money will be spent by the end of the year.

Coun Munro said: “The Olympic legacy is about enthusing people about physical and sporting activities yet a site for public recreation has been taken away.”

He added: “It appears that everyone is closing ranks and not wanting to talk about these issues.

“The community deserves to have a field to compensate for the loss of the pitch at Officer’s Field.

“There is also the question of the land near Victoria Square and the remaining money from the section 106 agreement.

“The land can only be used as recreation area so why can’t some goalposts be put there – unless there are other plans for the land.”

Economic Regeneration Manager for Weymouth and Portland Borough Council Ian Doyle said the council was assisting in the discussions between LOCOG and Coun Munro ‘where possible’.

But a LOCOG spokesman said: “We are not in a position to offer an alternative playing area as we do not have ownership of any other land in the area.”

The spokesman said LOCOG had ‘always been committed to returning Officer’s Field in a better state than we acquired it’.

“We are redeveloping and reinstating it with new turf, a new fence and new football posts and nets are being installed after the Games,” the spokesman added.