This is no way to engage in sport (From Basingstoke Gazette)

This is no way to engage in sport

9:19am Friday 30th July 2010 in

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Sir.– I write this on the day, we are told, that is two years distant from the opening of the Olympic Games in England.

Government ministers and others tell us that a primary purpose of staging the games is to engage the country at large in sport and fitness generally.

How bizarre, then, that Hampshire County Council is eager to sell off, for housing development, that part of the Down Grange recreational area, which is in their ownership. Equally strange is that leading lights at Basingstoke and Deane have even been willing to contemplate permitting such a concept.

When will national and local politicians and officials learn that service to the public is much better exemplified by what one provides for a local day-to-day life in the community rather than grandiose schemes? And who knows, one day general improvement rather than penny-pinching degradation of local facilities might lead to better performance at international level.

–Martin Biermann, Chineham Ward Councillor, Reading Road, Chineham.