About 50 protesters waved placards and banners in Wellington over the plug being pulled on an ambitious £10 million sports project for the town.

Residents and sports clubs packed the town square on Saturday to gather support.

They want Telford & Wrekin Council to put the Telford Sports, Learning and Enterprise Community project back on the table.

Council bosses shelved the scheme, claiming it was not sustainable.

It would have seen a 1,500-seater arena and centre of excellence built in Wellington behind Wrekin College that would have been used by Telford’s premier netball and basketball teams.

Tom Sumney, secretary of the Shropshire Panthers basketball team, attended the protest along with some team members.

He said: “We are all appalled, bemused and outraged by the decision to cut the project.

Project

“My club is set to lose out on a grant worth £500,000 that would have made us one of the premier basketball teams in the country, it would have really put Telford on the map.

“We would like to know how Telford & Wrekin Council can afford to turn down such an enormous amount of money in grant aid for such a worthwhile project.”

Residents from Leegomery Road also attended the protest, claiming a bypass that would have been built as part of the plans would have ended years of traffic hell.

Spokeswoman Emma Gledhill said: “For more than four years we have been complaining to the council about the volume of traffic. This relief road would have been the answer.

“It would have taken major traffic away from the town during term time.”

Council leisure boss, Councillor Miles Hosken, said that the project had not been cancelled but would now focus on providing leisure facilities across the borough instead of in a single location.

By Wayne Beese