PRESS RELEASE 24th March 2006
COUNCIL REFUSE TO SECURE LONG TERM FUTURE OF NORTH KELVINSIDE PITCHES
Members of North Kelvin Community Council and North Glasgow Football Development Group met senior officials from Glasgow City Council last week in a bid to secure the long term future of North Kelvinside Pitches in Queen Margaret Drive.
The pitches have been under threat since the council declared them to be “surplus to requirements” and announced their intention to dispose of the site in a cost saving exercise.
The pitches are a valuable asset to the area and one of the few remaining “Green Spaces” in the North West area of the city. The pitches are used weekly by 5 local amateur club sides and both the Ruchill Youth Football Group and the North Glasgow FDG for training and games and are the only council pitches currently available in the North West Corridor of Glasgow with on-site changing facilities.
The council claim that until the new Glasgow City Council pitch strategy document is published, in conjunction with Sport Scotland, that the long term future of the site will not be confirmed.
The North Kelvin CC and the North Glasgow FDG launched a “Save the Pitches” campaign in January which was extremely well supported by concerned locals which led to dozens of local residents writing to Bridget McConnell, Director of Culture & Leisure Services together with a petition with over 1100 names attached calling for the pitches to be not only saved but to be upgraded so that more local clubs could use the area.
Local Councillor Jim MacKechnie also accepted letters from the children of the North Glasgow FDG calling upon Culture & Leisure Services to save the pitches so that their Sunday lunchtime football sessions will continue to take place.
For the time being it appears to be a stay of execution for the North Kelvinside Pitches. Local People are keen to discover the findings in the Pitches Strategy document when it is published. Should the document fail to secure the long-term future of NK pitches the “Save the Pitches” campaigners have vowed to carry on the struggle to save the site from development.
ENDS
For further details contact Mark Adams on 0777 9117223.
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