Call for lottery cash to end 'muddy slope' sports fields

Published on Thursday 25 September 2008 21:52

LOTTERY money must be released in Scotland to improve "muddy slope" sports grounds and offset cash "lost" to the London Olympics, MSPs said yesterday.

The independent MSP Margo MacDonald said a substantial sum should be released to build on success and secure a legacy from the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

She said that playing fields, particularly in remote areas, were a health hazard and warned that talented young athletes were not being given the best opportunities.

Diving facilities have been lost because of budget cuts in Aberdeen and the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh is due for a two-year refurbishment, she said.

In a Holyrood debate, Ms MacDonald told MSPs: "Some studies suggest that, although standards are being raised amongst sports participants, fewer of us are taking part. And although there are improvements in the statistics on heart and lung disease, our waist measurements are growing inexorably bigger and our children vie for top spot in the obesity league.

"It's because of the urgency in making history of this last fact of our national fitness – and the opportunity to inspire people to do so afforded by the Commonwealth Games – that my motion urges Parliament to support the return, as soon as possible, of a substantial part of the Lottery funding already earmarked for Scottish activities, but diverted to help pay for the London Olympics."

The SNP government warned that good causes in Scotland would lose 150 million of Lottery money as a result of Olympics funding.

Ms MacDonald described three clubs in Scotland where Lottery money could improve standards.

She said Ross County Athletics Club had attracted a record number of young people to join since the Beijing Olympics. She added: "During that time the Ross County club members have tried to raise their standards on a muddy field. It's sloping and holed and used for shinty and football. Injuries are common."

Members have to travel a long way to make use of better facilities, she said.

Ms MacDonald is also campaigning for a facility for cyclists in Edinburgh where the Meadowbank velodrome – used by Olympic champion Chris Hoy – is earmarked for demolition.