HAVING worked on two occasions at Edinburgh’s Meadowbank Stadium and Sports Centre, first as a callow trainee manager in the mid-70s and then as venue manager for the 1986 Commonwealth Games in 1986, it is with sadness and some dismay that I learned the original facility, once the leading venue of its kind in the UK, is to close this December.
The mix of indoor facilities in the proposed “New Meadowbank” look remarkably similar to the old, with several key differences, such as the loss of the velodrome that kick-started the careers of none other than Sir Chris Hoy.
Replacing those sacrificed sports facilities include almost two hectares of residential and nearly 2.2 hectares of “mixed use”, including “hotel / student housing / residential / commercial”.' Secondly, there will be the removal of the existing Concourse, the only meaningful indoor athletics training facility in a city once renowned for its world-class track and field stars like Allan Wells and Yvonne Murray and those major international events such as the Commonwealth Games – twice – which rival UK cities such as Birmingham are striving to host.
The third significant loss is the existing 7,500-seater grandstand, to be replaced with one accommodating 500, not to mention a further 9,000 admittedly-derelict ground seats along with the loss of any capacity for temporary seating if required, signalling the capital's capitulation as a city capable of attracting major stadium events.
In their stead, houses – presumably private with the usual nod to “affordable housing”, and that catch-all, mixed use, land earmarked for anything but amenity; the upshot, a shrunken, emasculated leisure complex dominated –and presumably partly-financed – by private sector investors.
The people of Edinburgh and their sporting clubs and institutions - the two most important stakeholders of all - Scotland as a nation and to a lesser extent the UK and beyond, are being sold a not just a pup, but a pig-in-a-poke too.
Mike Wilson,
Lochhill Farm, Longniddry, East Lothian.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here