LETTERS From Graham Sprack, Newport:
IN recent weeks, I have read about the loss of the sports ground and facilities at GKN plc, leaving a thriving cricket club and several football teams, for people of all ages, homeless.
Then, this newspaper reported the closure of changing rooms in Ryde, leaving three football teams and one rugby club in a similar situation (CP, 13-07-12).
All this comes just two years after the IW Council refused planning permission for a new sports ground, on the outskirts of Havenstreet, which could easily have accommodated several, if not all of these teams, and is no more than five miles from the present home of any of them.
One the reasons for the council’s refusal was that there was no need for a new sports ground in the area.
As if this were not bad enough, the highly successful IW Disability cricket team, who had been promised use of the Havenstreet ground, as often as they wanted, will, this Sunday, be playing a must-win, home county championship-qualifying match against Hampshire, at Hampshire’s ground, as there are no suitable venues available on the Island.
Those who objected to the Havenstreet ground will be pleased to hear that not only is there no cricket in Havenstreet but now there is none in East Cowes and a good deal less sport for the people of Ryde either.