1,000 say yes to centre: Survey on redeveloping sports venue attracts positive response

A GROUP working on the redevelopment of a sports centre in Langholm is delighted with the public’s positive response to the project.
The Townfoot Sports Centre development project received an excellent response to its recent community survey questionnaire.
The survey was distributed all over Eskdale and nearly 1,000 written responses were submitted.
The working group was established by the project team after a well-supported community meeting was held in the Buccleuch Centre in March.
The objective is to open a leisure centre based on the former Edinburgh Woollen Mill sports centre in Townfoot which closed at the end of February.
The working group is co-ordinating activities during the development phase of the project this summer.
The Langholm Initiative is leading the activity in collaboration with Ashleybank Investments Ltd, which currently owns the existing centre.
It says the centre needs to be operated by a social enterprise. This will help it to secure funding because the project will be costly.
Ideas have included extending the swimming pool and renewing the tennis courts.
The squash courts are rarely used and they could be converted into a soft play area as well as a climbing wall.
Bouldering is another suggested activity.
The gym needs to be upgraded because the equipment is tired and insufficient.
People are keen on having different types of membership, not just an annual subscription, so they are more flexible.
Campbell Scott, working group chairman, told the E&L Advertiser: “It was great to receive such a warm and positive response to our questionnaire.
“We believe this provides strong evidence of community support and we’d like to thank everyone who took the time to complete the questionnaire.
“The group is now analysing the survey results and the information we’ve received will help greatly as we move to the next phase of the project.”
In the next phase the group will look at some design options for what a redeveloped centre could look like.
Capital
The options and results of the survey will be presented to the community in the next month.
Campbell added: “It’s a busy month for us.
“We’ll have discussions with stakeholders in the community to gather more information about developing the sports centre.
“This includes consultations about using renewable and efficient energy supplies and possible sources of capital funding.
“We plan to present an interim report to the community on our progress so far and our suggestions for the next steps for this project.”
If you would like to be added to the project mailing list or would like to volunteer to join the group, email townfootsportscentre@gmail.com