Leisure centre is 'not a priority'

SOME Alderney States members are rejecting the idea of a sports and leisure centre for the island. They say that the island has more pressing needs on which to spend public money.

It has been agreed that the States will debate the issue later this month, after four members placed a requete seeking '800,000 funding for the project.

They have set up a trust committed to raising the extra '1m. needed to complete the project.

'I think that everyone would like to have a sports centre but we just cannot afford it,' said Policy and Finance Committee member Barry Pengilley.

Public opinion surveys carried out since the 1980s have shown a large number of Alderney's population support a sports centre. But some fear that once the initial enthusiasm has waned, it could end up being under-utilised.

'We ought to learn our lesson from the past. Look at Beau Sejour and Fort Regent: they were paid for with public money and they're not being properly used,' said long-time island resident Andrew Montgomery.

Former States member Jackie 'Bones' Main is also against the plans.

'I don't think the States of Alderney should give a penny,' he said.

'There are more important things to spend money on, such as the sewers and harbour. And what happens after it's built? It would be a white elephant.'

States members Richard Willmott, Sue Phillips, Bill Walden and Barbara Benfield are behind the push for the centre.

They suggest that the States funding could come from the profits made by the online gaming industry in the island, which was ring fenced for community projects in exchange for Alderney's annual cash allocation from Guernsey being capped at the 2000 level.

Half-a-million pounds of last year's profit have already been set aside to pay for the sewers, but some see this as a service which should therefore be funded by the cash allocation.

Mrs Benfield said that she hoped that the States would offer support, even though Guernsey Treasury minister Lyndon Trott had expressed concern about the proposal.

'I would like to think they will support it because when the gambling industry was first introduced, there was a lot of public scepticism about it, so it was sold to the people of Alderney that revenue from the commission would be spent on projects that benefit the people of the island, such as leisure or housing,' she said.

'The problem is, we do not have an economic plan to get things put into place. Things like the sewers are an ongoing project. What would we have done had the gambling industry not taken off? We would have the same problem.

'I'm genuinely concerned that the more money we make for ourselves, the less likely we will have support from Guernsey to pay for services.

'The sports centre is a well-thought-out project and has been scaled down to suit the needs of people and the whole island would benefit.'