Brooke Park bowling clubhouse motion falls

Colr. Cooper’s proposal was ‘that the £60k referenced in the report HC229/20 is ring fenced within the Health and Community budget to match fund a new structure for the Brooke Park Bowling Club and Council continues to pursue other funding options through departmental savings and any external funding that may become available’.

The motion also urged that the Council will back the club and all elected representatives meeting early in the new year to outline the capital review process so the club have a clear idea of the processes involved. 

Councillors at an earlier committee meeting had deferred a decision on recommendations to carry out refurbishments on Brooke Park Bowling Pavilion at an approximate cost of between £50,000 and £60,000 and mandated officers to investigate long-term plans for the site.

The Bowling Pavilion at Brooke Park Bowling green, in its current structure, is a stand-alone cabin which has been in place for approximately 40 years.

The two options available were either replacement or refurbishment. The estimated cost to replace the existing structure with a new like-for-like structure is approximately £180,000, whilst the estimated cost of refurbishment was approximately £60,000.

Referring to an earlier decision to postpone the matter until January, People Before Profit Councillor Shaun Harkin said he did not believe there was any danger the £60,000 would be lost or could be lost if the Council didn’t vote for a specific option beforehand. “I don’t think we need to support this, I think we should just stick to the recommendation as is,” he said.

“What we need to do between now is engage with the club members. There is already a meeting being set up by the club to invite all interested elected members.

“They had a rally of 40 people and a number of us attended and they made their demands very, very clear, so they are speaking for themselves. I think we have to listen to them and before we go off making decisions or trying to make decisions on their behalf we have to get their input.”

The proposal  fell – 26 votes against, 11 for with three a bstentions.

By Gillian Anderson