Plans threaten karts

KARTING could be destroyed by the proposed redevelopment of the Track. Karting officials are 'horrified' and have 'grave concerns' over plans to relocate the stadium's entrance and make the kart track in front of the grandstand the main access road.

'I was absolutely horrified when I went to the IDC and viewed the plans. If they go ahead with those ideas, it would kill karting at the Track,' said Chris Lowe, owner of the Guernsey Kart Centre, which hires out karts at the Track.

'The basic problem is that the only access to the ground would be via the track itself. If I had even one customer in a kart, nobody else could get into the stadium. That would obviously be unsatisfactory.'

Mike Dean, president of the Guernsey Kart and Motor Club, shared Lowe's concerns.

'Moving the entrance and the access road could be disastrous for karting,' said Dean.

'We welcome proposals to redevelop the Track as long as they are to the benefit of everyone. At the moment, the plans would not be beneficial to karting.'

Rangers acting president Harold Allen, who is leading the redevelopment project on behalf of the Amalgamated Sports and Football Club, said when submitting the application to the IDC that the plans would 'adequately accommodate' karting.

Lowe and Dean yesterday disagreed vehemently with Allen.

'Harold did tell us that the plans took karting into consideration, but that is simply not the case,' said Lowe.

'If people can't get to the karting premises whenever a kart is using the track, it is clear that the redevelopment ideas are currently unsuitable for karting.'

Lowe also said that the Amalgamated's proposal to build a gymnasium and sports hall close to the track at the eastern end of the ground would make karting unsafe.

'Even as it is now, if we tried today to get the track passed it wouldn't meet modern safety standards. This proposed new building at the eastern end would make it much worse from a safety perspective.'

Lowe and Dean emphasised that they were not opposed to a redevelopment of the Track per se, but stressed that they could not support the plans unless a different access road was included.

Lowe said that he had discussed the redevelopment only with Allen and wanted to talk to Belgrave Wanderers president Hillary Sarre.