POWELL FURY OVER PALACE PLANS

Trackspeed1 UK Head Coach John Powell has hit the roof after finding out third hand about proposals that could see the entire athletics facility indoors and out at Crystal Palace demolished!

The proposals, which are open to public consultation next week on 16th and 18th October, will see the indoor track taken out and landscaped outside a new format leisure centre, and houses or schools may occupy the stadium site.

"I am incandescent," raged Powell, "as YET again a consultation process has been set up with absolutely no reference to the users of the centre.  And to make things worse, the opening words in the consultation paper say that the indoor track is poorly used!

"I have been a user of the centre as athlete and coach for 40 years, and I had to hear about this from a journalist.  Apparently the proposals are buried on a local government website.

John Powell - fuming at the proposals.

"It is typical of the way discussions on the future of the Palace have been handled over many years - someone comes up with some ideas, and pays lip service to any meaningful consultation.  Heaven forbid the users of the place should be asked for their views.

"The athletics side of Crystal Palace has been largely ignored by management teams for many years now, which is why it has deteriorated steadily into a dreadful state of repair.  I don't entirely blame them as there has never been the investment or financial will by anyone to stop the rot.  But this news now is a joke.

"They say the facility is under-used.  Really?  Well tell that to my squad of 20+ athletes, Donovan Reid's squad, South London Harriers whose main base it is, and the many other coaches that use it either regularly each week or occasionally.  On a Tuesday evening, for example, the track is packed!

"Crystal Palace is the only athletics facility in London with an indoor facility that is served by more than one bus route.  Lee Valley has one bus route, or you have to drive.  Sutton is the same, and it would take an age by road to either venue for the majority of Crystal Palace users.

"I thought all the current strategic approaches by governing bodies, and in the spirit of Olympic legacy, was to increase participation in athletics and promote sport?  Well you could have fooled me with these proposals, because half of my group will be out of a training venue if these ideas come to fruition.

"I will go to one of the two consultation sessions set up and voice my views, but I note they are set for either a training time or a Saturday when people are either coaching or otherwise engaged.  And I am sure my views will be forgotten seconds after I have voiced them.  Joke!"

Read the "consultation" paper at http://survey.euro.confirmit.com/wix6/p1838870106.aspx