City leaders told to take urgent action over Woodbourn Road athletics stadium 'dereliction of duty'
The Friends of Woodbourn Road have penned an open letter to city leaders over the state of the city’s only outdoor athletics track.It has been sent to:Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire Kate Josephs, Chief Executive Officer, Sheffield City CouncilGreg Fell, Director of Public Health, Sheffield City CouncilLisa Firth, Director of Culture Parks and Leisure, Sheffield City CouncilKate Cox, Head of Physical Activity and Sport, Sheffield Hallam University
For a city wanting to be granted a share in the benefits of hosting a Northern Olympics, that prospect is seriously undermined by the apparent lack of will by council to restore full public access to the Woodbourn Road athletics track.
Having handed the lease to Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) over a decade ago, the council has taken its eye off the ball.
SHU, as operator of the council’s Woodbourn Road site, have neglected to maintain it in accordance with the terms of the lease, and by failing a scheduled TrackMark inspection the venue lost the ability to hold competitions.
Where similar situations have occurred around the country, the facilities have lost their competition licence, yet every one of those other tracks remain open to users for the purpose of training.
SHU however believe the track is now too great a Health and Safety risk to allow its continued use - I assume the university must view training on Sheffield’s roads and unlit parks to be less dangerous than on a purpose made track.
This is the point at which the city council need to step in, enforce the terms of the lease and get the track re-opened for training. Scheduling in the re-laying of the track can then be looked at, with SHU being presented with the bill.
Several articles have been published in the local media highlighting the ongoing detrimental effect on the local athletics community of this closure.
But it’s not just the direct effect on the regular training user groups having to find alternative venues for their activity, but the timing of this closure puts in jeopardy the annual school sports day for many of Sheffield’s 70,000+ school age children.
The one opportunity a year for them to get a chance of running in a stadium, to open their eyes to new experiences and maybe inspire them to adopt a healthy and active approach to life.
And this is not just a Parks, Sport and Recreation issue. The repercussions of this dereliction of duty by SHU will be felt across education and schools, health and social care and even in the transport sector.
If action is not taken quickly the effects will be long lasting. But hand in hand with a short term solution must be a plan to refurbish the track, to safeguard its future for another 10 years (that’s how long a track surface will last).
Moving forward, the athletics community in Sheffield who are the Friends of Woodbourn Road, are ready to work with the city council to establish strategies to ensure the site once again becomes a valuable part of the city’s sport offering - economically viable, inclusive and vibrant, a place where elite athletes and community groups can share the same resources and experiences.
Sheffield talks itself big. It hails itself as a ‘City of Sport’ and ‘The Outdoor City’ - but with no outdoor track.
It’s multi-agency Move More programme identifies a need to facilitate greater activity levels amongst its citizens, prioritising equality, diversity and inclusivity in its approach - but with no outdoor track.
The Olympic Legacy Park is unique to a city which wasn’t an Olympic host, it’s home to some amazing sports and medical research establishments - but no outdoor track.
And Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport is indeed a venue of national stature - but it doesn’t have an outdoor track.
Sport England research calculates the annual social value of community sport and physical activity to be more than £120 billion, with a return on investment of £4.38 for every £1 spent.
The direct and indirect benefits of an active population are huge in terms of health, wellbeing and community. Now is not the time to be closing sports facilities, but to be looking at making them more accessible to the communities they serve.
Sheffield City Council’s Sport and Leisure Strategy (2023 - 2033) is titled Investing in an Active Sheffield…
‘The Council will invest its available resources in high quality indoor and outdoor sport and leisure facilities’.
So come on Sheffield, let’s see you do what you say…
The Friends of Woodbourn Road