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1.
Football, Swimming and Athletics |
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Football and
Athletics
Edinburgh's two football teams, Hibs and Hearts,
recently announced [June 03] that they were
considering moving, from their Easter Road and Tynecastle grounds,
to a new shared stadium.
Several possible sites for the stadium are being
considered, including Straiton close to the City by-pass to the south-east
of Edinburgh
Edinburgh City Councillors are keen to discuss
such a move, as it might enable a large new sports complex to be
created in the area, to replace Meadowbank Stadium, built for the
Commonwealth Games in 1970.
[Edinburgh Evening News
28 June 2003, pp. 1, 5]
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Swimming and
Athletics
On 11 March 2004, Edinburgh Council
announced £109m plans to:
- revamp the Royal Commonwealth
Pool
- replace Meadowbank Stadium
with a new athletics complex at Sighthill Park.
- replace Jack Kane
Centre at Craigmillar with a new centre to include football, a velodrome
and curling.
Both Meadowbank Stadium and the Royal
Commonwealth Pool were built for the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in
1970. It is hoped that the new sporting facilities will be in place
by 2010, and that Edinburgh and Glasgow will be able to make a joint bid
to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Edinburgh Evening News 11 March 2004,
pp. 1, 4, 5 |
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Swimming Baths
Three of Edinburgh's Victorian swimming pools have already been
refurbished. They are Dalry, Leith and Portobello.
On 24 March 2004, Edinburgh Council
announced plans to refurbish other two Victorian swimming pools in
Edinburgh, at a total cost
of £4m.
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Warrender: to include new gyms, pool
surrounds and changing rooms.
- Glenogle: to include
extended gym, new fitness studio, new steam room and sauna.
Edinburgh Evening News 24 March 2004,
p.17
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UPDATE - 2007
Edinburgh Council has discovered that
restoration costs for Glenogle Baths might amount to £4m, about twice the
funds available for the project.
The council is now considering selling
off the baths for housing, to a builder who would build a modern
leisure complex on the neighbouring open ground as part of the deal.
The council has been criticised for
short-term opportunism. Amongst fears that the council is about to
agree a deal in the near future, and the old baths would be lost, a
'Save Glenogle Baths' campaign was set up in March 07.
Edinburgh Evening News: March 2, 2007, p.22
Edinburgh Evening News 14 March 2007,
p.21 |
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2.
Sighthill
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A New Stadium?
Edinburgh council have
announced plans to create a new 6,000 seat athletics and rugby stadium at
Sighthill in the west of Edinburgh, to replace Meadowbank stadium.
Two grass sports pitches, an all-weather sports pitch, two sports halls, a
gymnastics hall and an indoor running track are also proposed.
As part of this £86m project,
the council also proposes to overhaul the Commonwealth Pool.
It is planned that facilities
at Meadowbank Stadium will be cut back, and that some of the land at
Meadowbank will be sold for housing, so providing cash towards the
Sighthill and Commonwealth Pool projects.
It is envisaged that work on
the Commonwealth Pool would be completed in 2010, ahead of the London
Olympic Games in 2012 and the possible Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in
2014, and that work on the stadium at Sighthill would be completed in
2011.
Detailed planning proposals
have still to be submitted.
Edinburgh Evening News January 26, 2007, pp.1,5 |
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New Stadium
now Unlikely
Following the Local Government election results
last month, attitudes towards the proposed Sighthill Stadium appear to
have changed.
The Liberal Democrat / SNP coalition seems less
enthusiastic about creating a new stadium at Sighthill, and
Edinburgh's new planning leader, Councillor Jim Lowrie, speaking in a
personal capacity, is reported to have described the Sighthill scheme as
"a white elephant" and as "dead in the water" following
protests from Sighthill residents.
Edinburgh Evening News June 11, 2007, pp.1,5 |
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New Stadium
Possible?
Despite the personal comments made by planning
leader, Jim Lowrie, 6 weeks ago, about the plans for an arena at Sighthill
being "dead in the water", there now again seems to be some
prospect of new athletics and rugby grounds being built there.
Council leader, Jenny Dawe says that the council
cannot afford to refurbish both the Royal Commonwealth Pool and
Meadowbank, so Sighthill may be the only option available for Edinburgh to
get the up-to-date sports facilities that it needs.
Edinburgh Evening News July 23, 2007, p.5 |
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Sighthill now Unlikely Again!
The
final report of the independent task force appointed by Edinburgh
council has now been published, and council leader, Jenny Dawe has made a
further statement.
See 4.
below
Edinburgh Evening News July 23, 2007, p.5 |
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3.
Meadowbank
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Protests against Demolition
Following a 'Save
Meadowbank Stadium' campaign signed by 6,000 people, Edinburgh Council
is to set up a special taskforce to reconsider its approach to Meadowbank
Stadium.
The council now believes that
it may be possible to keep the running track and build a new indoor
sporting centre in place of the existing main stand, without reducing the
number of homes to be built on the site.
Edinburgh Evening News April 19, 2007, pp.1,5 |
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Poll Favours Meadowbank Demolition
Despite local opposition to
the demolition of Meadowbank, Edinburgh Council claims that a clear
majority of people favour the council's plans to sell off Meadowbank to
help cover the cost of work at Sighthill and the Commonwealth Pool.
These results are based on a
poll commissioned by the council and carried out recently by Mori.
501 people participated.
Edinburgh Evening News April 30, 2007,
p.6 |
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Poll Opposes Meadowbank Demolition
However,
the Edinburgh Evening News reported on, May 9, that the newspaper
had carried out its own poll amongst 373 readers and had found that 78.3%
were opposed to the council's plans to sell Meadowbank.
Edinburgh Evening News May 9, 2007,
p.10 |
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Taskforce Favours Meadowbank Demolition
An draft
report from the independent taskforce set up by the council concludes that
any attempted refurbishment of Meadowbank would be "short-term and
short-sighted".
The
taskforce, chaired by the former Meadowbank Thistle manager and
Musselburgh Grammar School head teacher Terry Christie, favours the
building of a new £53m stadium at Sighthill.
The only
way to meet this cost may be to sell the land at Meadowbank for housing.
Edinburgh Evening News August 3, 2007,
p.5 |
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Taskforce Favours Meadowbank Demolition
Edinburgh Council is to appoint independent consultants to examine both:
- How might the facilities at Meadowbank be
upgraded, and at what cost? (Estimated costs for refurbishing are believed
to be about £30-45m.)
- Might land at Meadowbank be sold to fund
the building of new sports facilities?
Edinburgh Evening News August 24, 2007,
pp.6-7 |
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4.
Sighthill or Meadowbank
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Taskforce Report
The report from the independent taskforce set up
by the council was published today.
It concludes that even if most of the Meadowbank
site were to be sold for housing, the council would still face a shortfall
of £30m in their plans to refurbish the Royal Commonwealth Pool and to
create the new Sports Centre envisaged for Sighthill.
The report sees the best option as being:
"to create brand new facilities at Meadowbank
as it is by far the best location".
However, it acknowledges the funding difficulties
of either doing this or creating the new sports centre envisaged for
Sighthill.
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Council Leader's Comments
Council Leader, Jenny Dawes, says that the
council would be likely to pursue a "compromise" option which would
involve selling most of the Meadowbank site for housing, but relocating
the running track and indoor sports complex to the eastern part of the
site.
She added:
"It is obvious that we need to do a lot more
work before we can take any kind of final decision. We are obviously
going to have to go back to sportscotland to see if any funding would be
available for a development at Meadowbank."
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Edinburgh Evening News August 12, 2007, p.5 |
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5.
Royal Commonwealth Pool |
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Refurbishment
Edinburgh wishes to create:
- an Olympic-standard 8-lane 50 metre
pool and diving area.
- an expanded gym and redesigned
changing areas.
- new 'soft play' facilities.
It is
proposed that the pool will be used as an official training camp for the
London 2012 Olympic Games, then for the Commonwealth Games in 2014 if
Glasgow's bid for these games is successful.
The diving area would also be used for
diving competitions in the 2014 Commonwealth Games if Glasgow's bid for
the games is successful. |
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How will the cost be met?
The cost
of refurbishing the Royal Commonwealth Pool has risen by £7m to £36m in
under two years. Edinburgh Council has only set aside £29m for
the refurbishment, and that includes £7m expected from the sale of much of
the Meadowbank Stadium site.
However,
that sale will not be going ahead in the immediate future, because
Edinburgh Council recently agreed to appoint independent consultants to
look at a range of options for the Meadowbank site.
So the only viable option to fund the Royal
Commonwealth Pool refurbishment appears to be for Edinburgh Council to
seek funding from the Scottish Government or from sportscotland. |
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Edinburgh Evening News August 12, 2007, p.5
(Commonwealth Pool)
Edinburgh Evening News August 30, 2007,
p.6 (Meadowbank Stadium)
Edinburgh Evening News September 10,
2007, p.9 (Commonwealth Pool) |
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6.
Meadowbank Stadium |
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Cost to Refurbish
Edinburgh Council is still awaiting a
report from independent consultants looking into the options for the
Meadowbank Site.
However, a separate report published in October
2007 has estimated the cost of a full refurbishment of Meadowbank to be
£39m (including £14m sports centre, £13m grandstand, £11m velodrome).
The 'Save Meadowbank' campaign had estimated that
the facilities could be brought up to scratch for £18m. |
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Edinburgh Evening News: October 9, 2007:
p.9 |
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