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Bucks fury at ground snub
Saturday 27th June 2009, 11:30AM BST.
Bosses at AFC Telford United today said they were “angry and disappointed” about Telford & Wrekin Council’s decision to throw out a sports project which would have seen an extension at the club’s ground.
Councillor Andrew Eade, council leader, this week said the council was withdrawing support for the Telford Sports, Learning & Enterprise Community (TSLEC) in favour of building new sports facilities at six borough sites.
He said there was not enough money for both and was as “disappointed as the club” the plan had to be abandoned.
The TSLEC scheme would have seen the learning centre at AFC Telford United’s New Bucks Head ground extended and a five-a-side football centre built.
Lee Carter, club chairman, said the club and other organisations involved, had been frozen out of the decision-making. “We are devastated,” he said.Ê
Councillor Eade said: “We had to take this decision because, as funders have drawn back their subsidies from the scheme because of the recession, funding for the TSLEC proposals no longer stacks up.”
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The Telford and Wrekin Council have badly let down AFC Telford Utd at very short notice. The extension scheme at the Bucks Head would have supported the regeneration of Wellington, provided better facilities for a variety of community activities at an accessible venue. Lee Carter is right to be disappointed with the Conservative leadership of the council!
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I don’t believe that the Bucks head is the right place for expansion of this nature.
Access and parking are limited,traffic flow is a real problem in the area.
Far better to have local centres that are accessible to more people than a “town centre” location will be.
How long do you think it will take to get there by public transport,even worse how about getting back home in the evening?
No, Keep things local where possible and if needed have the expert coaching staff do the travelling.
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I guess that the idea of supporting Telford United (which lets face it, is a form of co-operative) is against Eade’s bluer than blue principles? Perhaps if it had been a club propped up by a Tory voting millionaire businessman he may have been more supportive?
MW I live in South Telford and really cannot understand why you think accessibility is such a problem? The Bucks Head regularly hosts several thousand supporters with little problem, has good parking facilities and the public transport links into Wellington are probably better than to any other part of outlying Telford.
Mr Eade is starting to get a reputation for making these kind of unilateral decisions (remember the damage he did with Hark?) IMO in dumping TSLEC he has let the people of Telford down YET AGAIN!
IMO Councillor Eade is a classic example of why we should all vote against party politics in local government.
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Do you really expect anything else from Tories? Wait until they get in at the next election. Remember the Thatcher years?
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if AFC Telford think it is such a wonderful idea why not fund it themselves. In the real world thebegging pot is empty and the sooner people start cutting their ambitions to their capabilities and financies without using other peoples money the better.
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Put brain into gear ‘ex torydon’. If they funded it themselves then they’d have to charge private club prices and nobody local would afford it.
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That club has benefitted from enough gimmies and freebies from the council over the last few years, how about spreading the facilities around a bit, The rugby club is close to both the town centre and south telford.
And don’t play the poverty card this time Lee, your crowds are twice the size of anyone else in that division and you charge people more to watch.
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