ALTON and District Sports Council is urging people to take the opportunity to “have a final say” in the struggle to get Alton a new sports centre that’s “fit for purpose”.

Still hanging onto the hope that councillors will “do the right thing” and force East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) planners to call a halt to the process to allow for more thought and input into the internal facilities mix planned for the new centre, Alton and District Sports Council chairman Joe Walters is rallying the town’s sporting fraternity to comment on the reserve matters (full) planning application, which has just gone live on the EHDC planning portal.

Following the granting of outline permission in September 2015, Sports and Leisure Management, trading as Everyone Active, has now submitted a final application for a replacement sports centre of up to 8,500 square metres gross external floor area together with parking structure and other car parking (up to 250 spaces); construction of outdoor floodlit, fenced synthetic turf pitches; vehicular, pedestrian and cycle routes; and landscaping, including tree planting and sustainable urban drainage.

While the public were originally led to believe that the reserve matters application would include an opportunity to comment on the internal facilities mix, controversially this has already been rubber-stamped as part of a legal agreement with Everyone Active at the end of March without full public consultation, and EHDC is insisting that it is “non-negotiable”.

But it is clear from the 49 public objections already registered on EHDC’s planning website (reference 21068/041) that there is concern that the proposed centre will not be fit for purpose. Already “bursting at the seams”, there is concern that, with a similar footprint and a facilities mix that does not, according to objectors, match the sporting needs or expectation of a growing population, it is designed for “wealth not health” and lacks future proofing. Objectors state their concern over the decision to provide a ‘leisure’ rather than a sports centre, with a reduction in squash, climbing, studio and sports hall facility and a pool that will be too small for competition purposes.

One objector wrote: “EHDC states that the contract with Everyone Active has already been signed which is, doubtless, true but irrelevant. Contracts can always be changed - perhaps with financial implications. But the overwhelming priority must be to get the right sports centre for Alton’s growing needs.”

Concerned that EHDC’s sole driving force behind the planned new ‘leisure’ centre is its ability to make money, Mr Walters is concerned for the future of sport in the town.

In a statement, he said: “Alton has a record of national excellence that other towns can only envy. We currently have four juniors representing their country and town in archery, taekwondo, trampoline and climbing. Other than archery, all started their sporting life at Alton Sports Centre.”

And he added: “The downgrading of sporting facilities in Alton, with little real public consultation, will result in reduced facilities, especially for the young people of the future.”

Mr Walters was among those, including members of the Alton Society and the public, at last Wednesday’s meeting pressing Alton Town Council to debate the reserve matters application at full council and not just at planning and transportation.

While some argued that it was a matter for planning committee members to decide, as they had a better knowledge of planning law, others, like Lib Dem leader Pam Jones, felt it was imperative, on “such an important matter as the sports centre”, for every councillor to have an input into the debate, on behalf of the wards they served, so that Alton Town Council could provide a united response to the application, before it goes to East Hampshire District Council’s planning committee for the final decision.