Opinion

READER LETTER: ‘Sports hub plans should be reviewed’

Paul Barnard

Published: 2:54 PM March 20, 2019 Updated: 9:25 AM October 11, 2020

An artist's impression of the proposed sports hub in Cromer. Picture: NNDC - Credit: Archant

Further to my letter published in the North Norfolk News (September 20) regarding the plans for a new Cromer sports hub.

Why were North Norfolk District Council not, apparently, able to get their business plan to the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) by early September?

On July 18, 2018 the large number of members of the Cromer Lawn Tennis and Squash Association (CLTSA) attending an extraordinary general meeting called in accordance with the constitution voted overwhelmingly against varying its lease to cede the two all-weather courts to Cromer Academy (a business).

The chair of the CLTSA failed to attend the meeting and has since failed to call a further meeting to seek to overturn the vote.

Having already spent more than £250,000 on the project NNDC and its councillors have a vested interest in proceeding in some form to avoid declaring a write-off of taxpayers' money. Just think how far that sort of money would go on improving and upgrading play areas for children in north Norfolk.

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a three-person review group contains two councillors. I hope they will review the level of subsidy required by what will surely now become a sports hub, not a tennis hub in an objective way.

A two-court sized building would save on both capital and running costs whilst at the same time needing less land - which in turn negates the need for the academy to take two tennis courts on which CLTSA members have invested more than £100,000.