Runners Angry Over Churchill Fields Plans

Jill Davies with members of the Saddleworth Runners at Churchill Fields today.

The Saddleworth Runners Club is angry at council plans to remove the current athletics track from Churchill Fields. Proposals to be presented at a public meeting next Tuesday are expected to include the idea of replacing it with a grass track instead.

The playing fields have suffered for years from poor drainage, and are often waterlogged. Sporting fixtures are regularly postponed, and last year’s Yanks wartime event had to be scaled back to protect the fields. A sub-group of the Saddleworth and Lees District Partnership has been looking at the matter for the past year in an attempt to find a resolution.

The Partnership, which is funded by Oldham Council and involves all the local borough councillors and others, has developed a plan which would involve several stages. Councillors say that would include a permanent solution for the drainage issues.

The playing area would be reorganised to allow for four football pitches, with one for rugby, and there would be a refurbishment of the changing rooms. The councillors anticipate the work would lead to a general increase in the use of the fields by various sporting groups.

The rugby pitch in the middle of the track at Churchill Fields.

The whole scheme would cost an estimated £300,000. The Partnership has committed £50,000, with almost £100,000 available from existing funds relating to local planning projects, so-called Section 106 money (for an explanation of what that is, read this). The rest would come from the sports clubs themselves but mainly governing bodies, including the FA.

But the runners are furious at plans to get rid of the current track, and aren’t satisfied with the proposed replacement of a grass one. Club Chairman Jill Davies told Saddleworth News today that they hadn’t been consulted.

She said: “There’s been nothing. No posters, no consultation with the club at all. When I contacted them, they said that for some reason we were not on the list of clubs they’d been given.”

Ms Davies added: “Presumably this public meeting on Tuesday is a bit of a sop as a consultation. But they’re not telling people about the track going. It does smack of being a bit underhand.”

She criticised plans for a grass track: “Apparently they’re going to grass it all over and mark lines on it. But grass is not good enough for running, it’s slippery and dangerous when it gets wet.”

Ms Davies said councillors had consulted the organisers of the annual Saddleworth Village Olympics, which uses the track, and they had not objected to the plans. But she said: “With all respect to them, they don’t know about running.”

She stressed the importance of the track to the local community: “It’s a facility that local children use. We run a junior section in the summer, and we get up to 40 children a night. It introduces children into athletics, and the notion of running on a track.”

Ms Davies continued: “It’s a facility for the local area, and it’s more than just a running track. So many children have first learned to ride their bikes here for example.”

Tuesday’s public meeting will be held at Uppermill Civic Hall, beginning at 7:30pm. Anyone interested in having their say on the proposals is invited to attend.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

If you would like to share an interesting story, achievement, photo or something you just want to happily shout about please send it in an email to hello@saddleworthlife.com We'd ❤ to hear from you!!