Historical Factoids 12:

[Mal]

 

Few more Cannylass!  

 

 

 

In the spirit of lost opportunities:

We have a changing facility at West Lea football pitch which quite frankly isn’t up to purpose.  I wanted to do something with it and thought why not try for something much better which has changing facilities within it instead of there just being this bomb shelter?

I took advice and had several meetings there with different NCC officers who all agreed it should be a much better offer.  I then spoke to most of not all of our local sports clubs, primarily football, and some sort of indoor facility was needed.  I suggested an indoor 5 a side pitch, built to national standards so league matches could be played, but which could be used for other things too in the true sense of a small multi-use sports centre. 

I next spoke to Sport England to get the exact sizes needed so I knew it would fit and start getting a costing.

Next I had on site meetings with manufacturers and installers of the type of building needed and even asked if a local school would do some picture art for the outside depicting sporting uses.

So I had a quote for under £300K and after meeting with sports funders who all said they wouldn’t help I started lobbying the Leadership at NCC. 

Finally, blow me down with a feather, they agreed and even increased the funding to £500K because they told me not to skimp on anything.   That extra funding would allow me to build bigger as well as all the fit out costs etc.  With a bigger build I then started talking to private swimming pool operators to see if they would be interested in putting in a small starter pool so our kids could learn to swim in Bedlington, as had been the case at St Bennet’s.

I didn’t want Active Northumberland anywhere near because this was to be a community owned project!  I even had meetings about how it would be managed by the community.

This was going too well! 

I was then told off the then CeO of NCC that it was a NCC project because it was in their budget and I just thought, couldn’t care less if you want the credit just build the dammed thing.  I had a meeting with the officer put in charge and the first thing he said was “Bedlington doesn’t warrant this investment.”   My reply was “That’s me and you falling out straightaway bonny lad!” 

Anyway after hearing nothing about it for several weeks I went to the then Leader of the Council to ask him to find out what was going on.  The answer that came back that it was unaffordable???

I asked for the plans and projected costs of what they were talking about and neither myself nor the Leader of NCC could get an answer!

When I did eventually see them they were for a 3 hall basketball courts at a cost of £3.5M?  I blew my top at this point and was summoned to a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of NCC, her deputy and the head of regeneration.   I was told this was the only thing they would consider and the costs were too much.  I agreed the costs were ridiculous but said that wasn’t what was wanted!  After several tense quite explicit minutes I was told that the real reason was because the Town Centre project needed extra funding so this funding, I had secured, had to go there. 

In the spirit of the greater good I reluctantly agreed with the proviso that it went into some sort of leisure offer in the Town Centre.  That was agreed by all parties! 

We all know what happened then………nothing and the money disappeared into thin air, as is what happens with annual budgets!

I will never be as trusting, or possibly green, again!