No 3G Pitch for Peebles

[HibeeJibee]

As the good folk of Peebles can't agree with each other where it should go, Scottish Borders Council has shelved plans for a 3G pitch in the town - for which funding of £1.7M, up from original £1.1M budgeted for ultimately unsuitable sites, was already allocated - and will start again from scratch sometime in the future. Maybe.

 

http://www.scotborders.gov.uk/news/article/1556/report_on_peebles_3g_pitch_plans_to_go_before_executive

 

http://www.peeblesshirenews.com/news/14375386.Peebles_3G_pitch_plans_dropped/

 

 

Councillor Catriona Bhatia, Deputy Leader of Scottish Borders Council, said:

 

“This announcement is effectively a moratorium on the 3G pitch proposal in Peebles.

 

“Officers and Councillors have worked very hard over many weeks and months with the local community to examine and re-examine all of the options but it is clear that cost pressures and other factors mean that the best course of action is to pause the project at this time.

 

“The Tweeddale Members appreciate that this will be met with different responses from the community, and hope to move forward positively to improve sporting provision in the town in future years.â€

 

 

Not great news for football in Peeblesshire.

[heedthebaa]

Never fucking mind Peebles, what about the forgotten shire in the borders, Berwickshire !!!! I swear those c***s at the SBC go to Kelso for a day at the beach, because f**k all seems to happen east of it.

[supermik]

Thought you were under the jurisdiction of Northumberland county council?

[Duns Fan]

Never fucking mind Peebles, what about the forgotten shire in the borders, Berwickshire !!!! I swear those c***s at the SBC go to Kelso for a day at the beach, because f**k all seems to happen east of it.

100% agree with this!

[HibeeJibee]

As no agreement could be reached in the community over where to put it, SBC has now diverted the money to road and bridge repairs, so Peebles won't get a 3G.

How very Borders.

http://www.bordertelegraph.com/news/14760538.Peebles_3G_pitch_plans_are_kicked_into_touch/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-37517742

[Burnie_man]

......and we wonder why the likes of Iceland have overtaken us and are disappearing into the distance. They also have less pot holes.

[HibeeJibee]

Minor consolation is provided by the fact that work has finally begun on laying 3G at Volunteer Park in Hawick, home of Hawick Linden RFC.

This dual-use facility will be only the second 3G in the Scottish Borders, after the dual-use facility at Netherdale in Galashiels.

Unlike at Netherdale the primary lining - in white - will be for rugby union, with football in yellow.

[Mr Tee]

Absolute scandal that this was allowed to happen. A nation of overweight, unfit and unhealthy people with directives from the govt to address it at every level of society and yet folk refuse a 3G park in their community which contributes enormously in the fight against these issues.

We now have 2 3G parks in Bonnyrigg which are booked solid and used to every section of the community - brilliant.

The folk in Peebles who voted against this should be strung up. Ejits.

[HibeeJibee]

From what I've read and heard, it seems most people in Peebles were happy for the town to have a 3G.

(I did see some comments like "sport get enough money" and "thats a ridiculous sum for a playing field" and similar in online petitions but I doubt that view was widespread).

Problem was that each part of town where the siting of the pitch was viable, led to protests from people opposing it there and wanting it in another part.

Last desperate attempt, during the early summer, was from a councillor suggesting it be built on Forestry Commission land several miles outside of the town at Horsburgh:

http://www.peeblesshirenews.com/news/14518534.Plans_to_salvage_Peebles_3G_are_agreed/


What to me seems particularly regrettable is that the money wasn't diverted to build a pitch in some other town.

Once the Hawick pitch is complete there will be 1 each in Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire. If Peebleshire can't get one in Peebles, what about Innerleithen. What about Berwickshire.

To only have two 3Gs for over 110,000 people in a rural area heading into the 2020s is appalling. Dumfries & Galloway has something like eight already.

[calmac25]

From what I've read and heard, it seems most people in Peebles were happy for the town to have a 3G.

(I did see some comments like "sport get enough money" and "thats a ridiculous sum for a playing field" and similar in online petitions but I doubt that view was widespread).

Problem was that each part of town where the siting of the pitch was viable, led to protests from people opposing it there and wanting it in another part.

Last desperate attempt, during the early summer, was from a councillor suggesting it be built on Forestry Commission land several miles outside of the town at Horsburgh:

http://www.peeblesshirenews.com/news/14518534.Plans_to_salvage_Peebles_3G_are_agreed/


What to me seems particularly regrettable is that the money wasn't diverted to build a pitch in some other town.

Once the Hawick pitch is complete there will be 1 each in Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire. If Peebleshire can't get one in Peebles, what about Innerleithen. What about Berwickshire.

To only have two 3Gs for over 110,000 people in a rural area heading into the 2020s is appalling. Dumfries & Galloway has something like eight already.

Wasn't Kelso meant to be getting one t the new high school from the same time the Peebles one was announced?

[HibeeJibee]

You may be right. My recollection was that they were getting a 2G - the same as Peebles High School - with a small-size all-weather but having had a search online it doesn't actually say that. If so that would obviously be an improvement... although it would depend how accessible it was on weekends and school holidays (this was an issue with the 2G pitches laid at new high schools in Earlston Duns and Eyemouth). Also it would not do anything for Peeblesshire nor Berwickshire - apart from Coldstream - as their major towns are too far away.


At the end of the day SBC accepted proposals in 2010 to have 3G pitches in these 7 towns (in order of preference) by 2020:

1 - Galashiels (Netherdale)
2 - Peebles (High School) ... downgraded to 2G instead ... subsequent 3G for Victoria Park cancelled
3 - Hawick (Volunteer Park)
4 - Duns (Old High School aka New Hawthorn Park) ... withdrawn entirely in 2013
5 - Kelso (Woodside Park)
6 - Selkirk (High School) ... downgraded to 2G instead in 2013
7 - Jedburgh (Elliott Park) ... lifted to 4th in 2015 ... now for The Glebe

As things stand, there will be 2 or 3 - depending on status of Kelso - with reports in June saying Jedburgh (finance in 2018) to come ahead of Peebles (finance in 2019) after its delay, which has now turned into cancellation. Even if Jedburgh is taken forward next, avoids the delays of the other projects and is done be 2020, you'll then see a quartet of such 3Gs in the Borders - with three-quarters of them in Roxburghshire!


Cancelling the Peebles park could also mean trouble for Sportscotland match funding: they provided £500k for sports facilities at Peebles High School provided a 3G went elsewhere:

http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/news/jedburgh-now-in-line-to-get-3g-sports-pitch-a-year-early-1-4148730

[Mr Tee]

From what I've read and heard, it seems most people in Peebles were happy for the town to have a 3G.

Problem was that each part of town where the siting of the pitch was viable, led to protests from people opposing it there and wanting it in another part.

Aye standard Scottish mentality. Really p*sses me off in all honesty.

"Aye we want it, just not here".

No one wants it on their doorstep really do they, but to spite your entire local community cos your stuck in the dark ages is ridiculous.

It's 2016 and 3G parks are part and parcel of the landscape of most towns, and for good reason. Get a grip people of Peebles.

[54_and_counting]

just seen this thread, what an absolute clusterfuck trying to get this pitch, from where i live in glasgow there are at least 10 3G pitches within a 5 mile radius and the difference they have made to the community is unreal, toryglen centre is booked out quite often and even half booked consistently, any spare pitches are always played on by the local weans just glad to kick a ball about with the fear of a car coming down the road

[HibeeJibee]

Bump.

Some better news for football in Peebles and for Peebles Rovers in particular... grant of £10,000 will allow them to enclose Whitestone Park, and preserve their EOS League status in future. Therefore with Ormiston's new pitch nearing completion, the era of open aka "public park" grounds in this league comes to and end.

http://www.peeblesshirenews.com/news/15522440.Peebles_Rovers_net___10k_for_revamp

[heedthebaa]

Good news HJ, see the cricket pitch has had to be taken into consideration 

[HibeeJibee]

Aye, makes sense.

I remember when Coldstream FC announced their plans to enclose Home Park a few years - ultimately winning a local plebiscite by a fairly narrow margin - one argument against was Coldstream CC...

... which had folded in 1989 ! Think the retort was "aye, but it might be restarted ".

[The Crafty Dafty]

What a shambles

[HibeeJibee]

Looks like work to enclose Whitestone Park can't come soon enough. Not content with trying to burn their grandstand down a few years ago - local scum have now daubed a Nazi swastika on the war memorial plaque displayed within it, placed in memory of ex-player Alec Lucas.


http://www.bordertelegraph.com/news/15549828.Anger_as_swastika_defaces_Marine_s_memorial_in_Peebles/

THOUGHTLESS thugs in Peebles have defaced a memorial to a war hero with a Nazi swastika. And the yobs also scrolled sickening genitalia onto the plaque which honours Marine Alec Lucas. The memorial, which is placed on the back of the Alec Lucas Memorial Stand at Whitestone Park, was only unveiled three years ago. It pays tribute to the popular 24-year-old from Peebles who lost his life during combat in Afghanistan. Every year since his death friends and family of Alec have helped raise more than £100,000 for local football causes as well as military charities.

This latest attack comes on the back of several other vandalism incidents in and around Peebles over the summer. And it isn't the first time the stand at Whitestone Park has been damaged recently - in 2015, Scottish Borders Council forked out on a £500 repair bill attempts had been to set it on fire.

Local football coach, Ger Rossi, who frequently uses the Whitestone Park ground as both a player and as a coaching of young children, is sickened by this latest attack. He said: “It’s now getting to a stage where I’m not remotely surprised by the behaviour at that stand. “Obviously the club are happy to let teenagers use it, as long as they don’t abuse it. "It’s now getting to a stage where it’s beyond a joke. “From my perspective, it’s very poor. We’ve tried to engage with the people who are doing this but they just won’t listen."

Peebles isn't the only town to be hit by a recent wave of vandal attacks around football grounds. In Innerleithen Vale of Leithen’s Victoria Park ground is regularly targeted with repair bills often running into the hundreds of pounds. Officials are now pricing the installation of CCTV. And football chiefs in West Linton are also installing cameras at the recently-opened Hotspur ground following damage.

Mr Rossi hopes parents of the vandals can help bring the destruction to an end. He added: "I think the issue lies with the parents; more has to be done to stop stuff like this from happening. "They need to be taught respect which they clearly lack. “It’s obviously a problem that needs to be addressed, but what can we do? You could argue that you need a bigger police presence in the town.”

[heedthebaa]

According to their Twitter, Peebles are losing their management team