LETTER: Ice rink is "hanging on an icy cliff"

Community sports such as ice hockey and football are essential for the well-being of the town and are an asset.

The Bison are a symbol of Basingstoke, part of the community and put the town on the map. I like so many have enjoyed the facilities that the rink offers, bringing parties of Disabled children to skate there alongside peers with the same Disability.

I’ve met the fans and the families that make up the Bison and the spirit of Basingstoke is at the heart of this community. It therefore beggars belief that the ice rink is in this situation, hanging precariously on this icy cliff.

The sad saga begun when it was proposed to build a new leisure park on the current site.

New River was awarded the contract to build the new leisure park, which subsequently became a leisure and “retail” park with a 1000-year lease.

Noticeably the contract with New River guarantees an aqua dome, but not an international sized ice rink.

So even when the new leisure park eventually goes ahead, an ice rink is not necessarily included.

It’s clear that the new leisure park will be mostly retail units, restaurants, the pool and possibly the attractive looking zip wire in the alluring artists’ vision.

The current ice rink is a ticking time bomb.

Rather like our planet, the permafrost under the ice is damaged and it faces extinction.

It is estimated that the current rink has about 18 months left of life, not enough time to last until a new one is built in the new leisure park, if indeed a new international sized rink is intended for the leisure park.

After persistent pressure from the Keep Ice in Basingstoke campaign the council finally agreed to identify 5 possible sites for a temporary rink, which Planet Ice would build.

The expectations of the town and ice rink community were raised.

Five sites were identified but as some were green sites which could not be built over, it was narrowed down to three – two at Viables and one north of Thornycroft roundabout.

Architects, Stride Treglown, were instructed to do an assessment of the 3 sites to determine their suitability and cost the clearing of the land to prepare the site for Planet Ice to build a temporary or permanent rink.

It was made clear that BDBC’s responsibility in terms of finance would end once the site was cleared.

Nobody from the architects spoke with the ice rink community to ascertain the human needs of the rink - a family friendly environment, good parking, easy access. The specific need of match days.

The town and ice community waited on the architects’ report.

A September CEP meeting was prorogued, rather like Parliament was, as the only item on the agenda was the ice rink. Finally, the 23rd October CEP meeting went ahead with devasting news.

To clear the spills left by the council on the sites, would cost not the anticipated half a million pounds but £3-3.5 million pounds.

Whether that figure is inflated or not is impossible to say without sight of the architects’ report.

A comparator could be the cost in Leeds to clear the Elland Road site for the rink, where there was a disused mine shaft.

However, at some time the council will have to clear this land, so whether this inevitable cost should be a price tag of the ice rink is debatable.

Alongside the cost of clearing the site, other potential problems raised their heads at this late hour and stage, such as problems of parking and procurement.

All issues that should have been anticipated and investigated at earlier stages to avoid being an impediment now as the deadline to finalise council budgets for next year, 2020-2021 grows worryingly close.

The question of whether the Ice rink has a future, simply must be discussed further at the November CEP meeting if it has a chance of being included in the budget and plans for next year.

Meanwhile the lifespan of the current ice rink is ticking away.

To me this raises a number of questions.

It’s clear to me that sport and well-being is not a priority for BDBC.

The nearby comparator is Guildford, where they are planning to rebuild the Spectrum as a designated sport and leisure facility at an estimated cost of £200m.

Does this involve retail? No! The report on the replacement of the Spectrum supports the benefit of designated sports and leisure facilities for a town. These benefits include:

• Recognising that the Spectrum, with the rink and other sports facilities, is a community and secondly commercial facility

• It is key to the borough’s health and well-being strategy for the community and young people

• It will enable people to live longer and healthier lives, reducing the burden on the NHS

• Is key to their visitor strategy of attracting people to the town

• Is key to the borough’s leisure objectives to serve local communities and voluntary organisations

Most importantly the report recognises the financial well-being outcomes nationally from facilities such as the Spectrum.

The improved well-being outcome of sport has saved an estimated £30.b nationally from improved health.

£41m has being saved from a reduction in crime and an estimated £5m from improved educational attainment of those participating in sport.

For those more interested in commercial, rather than well-being outcomes, the ice rink was just behind the pool in generating 21 per cent of the Spectrum’s income. (The pools are 26 per cent.)

With all these benefits of sports facilities I am amazed that BDBC are not chomping at the bit to prioritise sport in the town and rebuilding the leisure park as a designated sporting and leisure facility and not trying to cram in yet more retail and restaurants.

Most importantly why they are not prioritising saving the ice rink, just doing the bare minimum and not devising and implementing a full strategy for a temporary or permanent rink that anticipates the problems and has solutions.

They seem to be ambling along, making the plan up as they go along, and bumping into problems as they go along making delays and U turns unavoidable while the rink slides into extinction.

The key issue here is also the use of public and community land that is land for the many for which should be used for the well-being and usage of the people of Basingstoke.

BDBC should be proactively using the land owned by the council for the public interest and well-being and recognise well-being as an outcome that can at times outweigh the need to profit.

Five sites were offered but it’s not easy to see if they were the only sites available or if there were others.

It should be much easier and more transparent for the people of Basingstoke to see what land is owned for their use by the council.

The council should also be leading the way by acquiring more land as well as using its public land in the public interest.

Local communities and people should be able to have more of a say and stake in controlling the development of the land around them and greater participation in decision making.

Most importantly future generations of children will have to live with the consequences of development, including decisions on the rink.

They will have to live with the developments and planning decisions.

Children’s champions should be involved in local authorities to inform planning decisions.

This has already happened in Wales with the Well Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and UNICEFS’s own Children’s Rights and Urban Planning Principals.

What do the young people of the town feel about the future of the ice rink? The testimonies of the young Bison on the Ice Rink Users’ Forum make that very clear

“It’s more than an ice rink. It’s where I have made friends and meet them each week.” Under 13 player

“I don’t want to think about it. To loose the rink would leave a huge hole in my family’s life. So much of our spare time is based around the rink. It would be a shame for the town as a whole.” Under 11

“If the ice rink closes, I will be really sad.” Under 9 player

Kerena Marchant

Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Basingstoke