"It’s terrific to get this injection and support for our plans. We never thought we’d see this day, but now we’re planning the opening next year"
Maria Donovan, chair of Greengairs Community Council
Northampton, England, UK: The environmental body WREN, has made its largest funding award to date of £500,000 for a new community sports centre project in Greengairs, North Lanarkshire, announced Waste Recycling Group yesterday.
The environmental body was established by Waste Recycling Group (WRG) for the distribution of landfill tax funding. WRG, a leading player in UK waste management and energy recovery, is part of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) the international construction and services group. WRG handles some 13 million tonnes of household, commercial and industrial waste every year.
The funding, associated with WRG's Greengairs landfill, will be used to build an indoor sports facility near the community centre and linked to the outdoor multi use games area, creating a significant focal point at the centre of Greengairs village. Although the maximum funding amount is usually £50,000, the WREN board agreed unanimously to support this project.
The project in total will cost £1 million with half the money coming from WREN, £100,000 already raised through local efforts and it is hoped the remaining £400,000 will come from support by Sport Scotland and North Lanarkshire Council.
Of the WREN investment, £100,000 will go towards design and planning, £200,000 towards materials and construction and £200,000 towards fitting out and equipment for the indoor sports centre.
Maria Donovan, chair of Greengairs Community Council, commented:
“It’s terrific to get this injection and support for our plans. We never thought we’d see this day, but now we’re planning the opening next year. Young people will now have somewhere to go to get rid of their energy and play ball games, others will now have a local gym facility and we can all get fit and healthy.”
Sustainable Greengairs
WRG says that £500,000 was provided by the Landfill Communities Fund to transform wasteland between the villages and the landfill site in to a parkland known as Stanrigg Memorial Park. This was in honour of those who died in a mining accident there. The new indoor sports facility will be constructed on land adjacent to this parkland memorial.
Other projects are also to be worked on at the site including a play equipment area with traditional swings and roundabout, a sports field/kick-about area, which will include a multi-use games area that incorporates a tennis court, football nets and basketball hoops, with work to be completed late spring/early summer.
Work on the sports centre is due for completion in 2009. All the projects, known as Sustainable Greengairs, have attracted more than £700,000 in funding from WREN altogether says WRG.
William Beattie, project manager Scotland, WREN: said:
“This is a great project for us to get involved in as we’ve worked closely with the local community on a number of projects in the past. The village has long cherished its own indoor sports centre as public transport links to other sports facilities in Airdrie or Cumbernauld aren’t always convenient.
“This is the biggest financial grant WREN has ever awarded. We looked at what needed to be done and instead of approving lots of different awards for parts of the work this summer, bits later in the year, and some next, we decided to propose the full funding in one go.”