LEISURE CENTRE REPORT UNDER SPOTLIGHT
As a public meeting is called to discuss the long awaited report into the proposed leisure centre development at the canon’s field in Mitchelstown concerns have been expressed locally about the manner of its announcement.
One concerned member of the community, Liam Cusack, this week told The Avondhu, “I am once again dismayed at the lack of transparency and notice that the people of this town are been given by the leisure centre committee.
"This is a very important meeting and the community should have been given notification for it and a chance to read and study this so called independent report weeks ago.
"A copy of the report should have been distributed to every household in the town before a meeting was called but this is typical of the way the leisure centre committee operates.”
Another association that is eagerly awaiting the publication of the report is the Mitchelstown Youth Group.
“I look forward to reading the report but I am very disappointed that we were not given more time to study it before the meeting on Monday night.
"However, as one of the groups that made submissions to the leisure centre committee we wonder how the consultants completed the report without contacting the youth committee or indeed other groups.
"I would call on everybody in community who has an interest in providing Mitchelstown with the much needed leisure facilities that we need in this town to come to The Firgrove and have their say,” youth committee member Ailbe Coleman said.
The meeting will take place on this Monday December 14 at The Firgrove Hotel to review the findings of the consultants report and all interested parties are invited to attend.
“The report was commissioned last August as part of an extensive consultation process being undertaken by the Leisure Project Group in the wake of the decision to put the proposed swimming pool on the long finger.”
“We received 20 submissions from local community and sporting groups outlining the facilities they would like to see incorporated into the leisure centre, these included an indoor multi-purpose sports hall, all-weather training pitches, a community centre incorporating a day care facility for the elderly, a youth cafe, an enterprise centre in a joint venture with the Mitchelstown Forum and the possibility of the re-location of Mitchelstown Tennis Club to the canon’s field,” Ben Lynch, chairman of the leisure centre committee told The Avondhu.
“The Holohan Report can be accessed on the www.mitchelstown.eu website from this weekend and it is hoped that all who have a genuine interest in the future development of Mitchelstown and the provision of much needed facilities in the town will attend,” Ben Lynch concluded.
The meeting will begin at 8pm in The Firgrove Hotel on Monday night.
Published:
Thursday 10th December 7:32pm