Two petitions were presented to the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee today about the provision of an all-weather pitch in Portlethen.
Councillors spent 90 minutes discussing the issue, hearing from representatives of Portlethen Community Council and the South Aberdeenshire Hockey Club as well as council officers.
The conclusion was that councillors have instructed a report from officers to be presented to the next meeting. The report should cover the options for a 3G pitch (suitable for football) in Portlethen, steps that can be taken to reduce water-logging of the three grass pitches at the academy, and identify sports provision deficiencies in the town, including a sports pitches strategy.
The background is of course that council officers and Robertsons (who provide the school for the council) agreed earlier this year that the existing 2G artificial pitch had reached the end of its life and should be replaced. Work is due to take place during the summer holidays.
However although 2G is suitable for hockey, netball, cricket, tennis and basketball, it is not suitable for football. This resulted in the petitions which called for a 3G pitch which is ideal for football – but not these other sports.
Portlethen’s 2G pitch hosts hockey matches, with the South Aberdeenshire club – one of only two in the Shire – drawing members from across Kincardine and Mearns. Their representative told councillors their club would probably fold if a 3G pitch were installed.
The needs of the minority sports had to be balanced against the needs of the much larger footballing community. The meeting heard that the academy favour a 2G pitch so that a wide range of sports can be offered as part of the curriculum.
Officers told the meeting that they could see not rationale for not providing a like-for-like replacement. They emphasised that this is primarily a school resource. However they conceded that the way the decision had been taken could have been better in hindsight with consultation with local councillors and the community.
It was emphasised that there could be financial implications if the decision to install a 2G pitch were reversed.
A report on the immediate issues will be brought to the next committee meeting on 26 June, with a fuller report on wider matters after the summer recess.
Councillors only had two options open to us today – either note the petitions or call for a further report, which is what we did.
Obviously much more was said over an hour and a half, but these are the key points. There was a press reporter there, so it will be interesting to see what the papers say.
It is important that “minority” sports are accommodated, particularly within a school context. They are only minority sports if there is no,or poor facilities to allow them to evolve and flourish. They need access to facilities or they will of course become non existent for local communities if facilities are not easily available. I would also consider that the school are by far the better judge of what interests kids ,and the curriculum, not councillors or contractors.
Robertson’s should not be driving the agenda, they originally contracted to provide similar facilities, there should be no future cost implications for them or their sub-contractors. Having been along to see my grandson play football on grass facilities within the school grounds, I believe football is well served in the local communities ie, Newtonhill, Portlethen, and Stonehaven. Councillors are in place to represent local community interests not those of contractors.
Thanks for your comments, Danny. Thoughtful.
Sounds like the 2G pitch is the way to go, my thoughts pretty much echoing Danny’s. Will be interesting to see the results.