Meadowbank campaigners call for lasting Games legacy

Published on Tuesday 17 June 2008 10:23

THE Government must maintain its existing leisure facilities to provide a lasting legacy to the 2014 Commonwealth Games, according to those campaigning to save Meadowbank Stadium.

The Save Meadowbank campaign took its message to a public meeting where government officials were seeking views on what legacy people would like Scotland to receive from hosting the event in six years' time.

Edinburgh hosted the Games in both 1970 and 1986 but campaigners say both the Royal Commonwealth Pool and Meadowbank Stadium have since been neglected financially. Meadowbank faces total demolition with the loss of most of its facilities.

"Officials leading the 2014 team talk about learning from places like Melbourne and Manchester. They really ought to start closer to home and learn from what happened to Edinburgh," said Save Meadowbank spokesman Kevin Connor.

"We need to maintain what we already have. Alex Salmond should match his rhetoric with cash and give Edinburgh Council more money so Scotland's capital can retain the much loved and hugely popular facilities that were meant to be their long-term legacy from previous Games."