Vision for the Future of Sport in Edinburgh?

In September 2003, SportScotland (an unelected quango) invited local authorities to bid for funding as part of its National and Regional Sports Facilities programme. Directed by SportScotland's guidelines, the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) set to work to obtain a share of these public funds, and on 18th March 2004, CEC agreed its bid.

Its "Vision for the Future of Sport in Edinburgh"[i] included "the complete upgrading of the Royal Commonwealth Pool and the establishment of new sports complexes at Sighthill and Hunter's Hall Parks." The bid made reference to a projected cost of over £125 million if construction were to start in 2007, and noted "the biggest challenge facing the Council is how to address the major funding gap between the money being offered by the Scottish Executive and SportScotland (30% - 40% of the capital cost) and the actual cost of developing the new facilities". [The latest SportScotland commitment is nearer 10%; or £11 million]

A two-part solution to this "significant shortfall in funding the capital project" was proposed:

1. "innovative approaches to sourcing funding through a PPP [Public Private Partnership], commercial involvement or working with other public sector partners"
2. "The sale of the Meadowbank [Stadium] site"

Without any public consultation whatsoever, CEC took the decision to sell off the best-used and best-loved sports facility in Edinburgh.

Although the Meadowbank sell-off decision was in the public domain, no attempt was made to 'publicise' this aspect of their plan. In December of 2006, a public 'consultation'[ii] exercise was initiated to gain public input on CEC proposals to turn the Meadowbank site into an area of high-density private housing, with the possibility of a comparatively tiny community leisure centre on site (approximate cost £4 million[iii]).

The council planning department in charge of the 'consultation' openly acknowledged that the sell-off was already decided, and that the public were only invited to comment on the specific proposals detailed in the brief for the use of the cleared site.

Once again, no attempt was made to publicise this 'consultation', [it could be argued that a deliberate attempt was made to suppress it] and although various individuals and user groups came out against these plans, by mid-February, the vast majority of even Meadowbank's users were still unaware of any intention to sell off the centre. After some media exposure, CEC felt pressured into extending the limited 'consultation' deadline from March 9^th to March 30^th.

On March 5^th, after some evenings of leafleting and petitioning outside Meadowbank, more than enough interest was generated to convene a meeting of concerned users and locals. At short notice, the meeting attracted around 30 individuals who formed the Save Meadowbank Campaign (SMC). We decided on the following common aims:

1. To reverse Edinburgh Council's decision to demolish Meadowbank Stadium and sell off the cleared site to private housing developers.
2. To call for refurbishment of the stadium using our public money, to specifications deemed fit by the centre's users, local residents, and the wider public.
3. To demand full and open public consultation on such major issues.

It was also decided that a public meeting at Meadowbank should be organised where the council could be held to account for a decision that was unanimously viewed as undemocratic.

At the following meeting (Mar 12^th), we were informed that due to the popularity of the condemned stadium, the only available date we could have our desired venue was Sat Mar 17^th. Although this would leave us with only 4 days to organise and publicise it, we decided it was the best option.

Over 600 people attended the meeting.

The feeling of the locals, the general users, and the athletes who attended the meeting became clear:

1.            There was unanimous opposition to the sell-off of Meadowbank

2.            By deliberately avoiding the sell-off issue, the 'consultation' was entirely phoney, and therefore irrelevant.

3.            Meadowbank is already an excellent facility for training top-class athletes 365 days per year; this was a much greater priority than funding a stadium that might attract a world-class event perhaps once every 6 years.

4.            The call was not for an expensive upgrade to world-class-event standard; but for an inexpensive phased refurbishment of the current stadium.

As a result of the overwhelming strength of the numbers and the feeling, the sell-off decision that was thought to be "all over bar the shouting"[iv] became, in the words of ex-council leader, Donald Anderson, "still open" to debate.

On March 26^th, Ewan Aitken (leader of CEC) attended a meeting with the Save Meadowbank Campaign membership, where he became aware that a consultation on the shape of the flats and a leisure centre was not what was required; on such a significant issue as Meadowbank Stadium, whether to sell-off or not should have been the question asked.

Aitken acknowledged that the public, the general users, and the sports groups themselves should have been consulted; not just the governing bodies of sport.

"We charged Edinburgh Leisure and others to do the consultation," said Aitken. "I didn't ask the question as to who they consulted. I accept I should have asked that question at the time."

Aitken said he needed time to 'reflect' on our views.

The City of Edinburgh Council has used a range of disgraceful arguments in support of its 'vision', which includes a level of misinformation that they should be ashamed of. Examples include, but are not limited to:

o    CEC explained that refurbishment was not an option as SportScotland funding was only available for a new-build stadium;

o       SportScotland deny this; they claim the decision not to refurbish was CEC's alone; that they "look equally favourably on new or refurbishment projects"[v]

o       Indeed, CEC's bid to SportScotland acknowledges that the funds were available for "new or refurbished national and regional sports facilities".[vi]

o    While CEC's own documents clearly indicate the opposite, both former and current CEC leaders denied that PFI/ PPP deals would be used to fund their 'vision'[vii].

By April 18^th, the 'still open' debate had never materialised; the report on the fake 'consultation' was still in progress; but nevertheless, Ewan Aitken's Labour group tabled a motion for a full council meeting of April 26^th reaffirming their commitment to the sell-off of Meadowbank in order to fund their 'sporting vision'.

With a pledge to consult more widely (not with the public nor this campaign though) on the make-up of the local leisure centre that might join the 800+ flats, once again there is a deliberate attempt to sidestep the central issue of sell-off!

Around 10,000 petitions were signed in response to the phoney 'consultation': against the sell-off, and for the refurbishment.

An indicative Edinburgh Evening News poll (over 1000 respondents) puts public opposition to the sell-off of Meadowbank at 87%.

It's not over yet; watch this space!

22^nd April 2007

Watch the Save Meadowbank march which took place on the 30th of March, the last day of the Council's 'consultation' period. Local residents, athletes, sports groups and coaches marched from Meadowbank stadium to Edinburgh City Chambers to hand over thousands of 'Save Meadowbank' petitions.