Future of indoor netball courts in Blackpool 'still under review '

Talks into the future of facilities at Blackpool Sports Centre are continuing in a bid to make the area more viable.
Blackpool Sports CentreBlackpool Sports Centre
Blackpool Sports Centre

A row broke out last October when it emerged the council wanted to spend £325,000 converting an indoor netball and multi-sports court into a children's play area and cafe.

Thousands of people signed a petition calling for the facility to be saved and the council's executive agreed to defer its decision on the future of the space in order to consult more widely with users.

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Coun Maria Kirkland, cabinet member for community cohesion and leisure, told a meeting of the tourism, economy and communities scrutiny committee, the review was still ongoing.

She said: "We have engaged with a number of sports groups. We are not going to make any decisions for a few more months as we are looking at usage to see what is viable.

"We are linking up with groups to see if they want to use the space more in the light of the position we are in."

If the conversion goes ahead, it will halve the space at the dual sports hall on West Park Drive, meaning the loss of one netball court and five badminton courts.

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The Fylde Netball League - which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2019 - launched a petition to save the venue which attracted more than 4,000 signatures in less than three days.

Former England national netball coach Tracey Neville used Twitter to lend her support to the campaign.