Indymedia York

The inaugural public meeting of the York Sport & Leisure campaign on Sat 15th July brought around fifty citizens together to talk about their experiences of York’s sport and leisure facilities on the decline.

Councillors from the Labour Party, Greens, and the Lib-Dems gave their time to listen to residents’ concerns and respond to questions.

John Wartho provided an older person’s perspective saying that a group of ninety people aged “over 50” who used to use York Barbican for sports and leisure activities had dwindled to an average of twelve since the Barbican closed and some activities were switched elsewhere. Other residents added that the cost of private facilities were often beyond the reach of older people, as was also the case for youngsters.

Miriam Jackson read a letter from a resident who was angry and frustrated that she now had to take her three children across York by bus to use swimming facilities, which was costly and time-consuming. This was taken up by another lady who said her daughter had lost some independence in not being able to use the many facilities at the Barbican where teenagers could socialise in the café as well as keep fit.

Another resident spoke about how sky-high rents in York made it difficult for his boxing club to maintain the age-old tradition of boxing clubs in keeping kids off the street and from getting into trouble. He said he has lost some of his most promising young boxers to clubs in Leeds which receive funding from the Leeds Council.

Jill Pattenden, a research fellow at the University’s Department of Health Sciences, said research into the causes of heart disease indicated that while 19% of heart disease could be attributed to smoking, almost twice that, 37%, could be blamed on physical inactivity. Worse still, Yorkshire was the least active of all the regions of the UK with only 18% of people doing enough exercise.

One ray of sunshine was provided by a gentlemen from Huntington who claimed that the sport of pétanque was thriving in York and people should come to join his club.

People then had time to write their concerns and their solutions on sticky notes which were stuck on the wall before being grouped into similar issues to see where the majority of people’s concerns lay. While this was going-on the three Councillors were able to answer questions and give their opinions.

Cllr. David Evans, for Labour, said, “I would still like to see York Barbican reopened and even improved. Sport has to be accessible in terms of price and geography.”
Cllr. Mark Hill committed the Green Party to having sports provision properly managed in the city, adding, “We’re starting to see social stratification of fitness – those who can afford it and those who can’t. However there’s a weird imbalance in people’s attitudes towards Council Tax and then paying several hundred pounds for private gym membership. It’s a question of priorities and I think it is right for people to bring leisure higher up the agenda in York.”

Cllr. Keith Orrell responded for the Liberal Democrats, who had received heavy criticism over the decision to close the Barbican. He claimed that the University is determined to build a swimming pool and it would be pointless for a Council pool to compete with that for customers. He also assured a questioner that the Barbican auditorium would still be used for concerts even when it is surrounded by 240 flats, as the provision of live concerts was built into the contract. He also suggested that there were plans for a stadium to be built on the York Central site behind the railway station.

A brief analysis of people’s concerns and their suggested solutions for the future of sport was then presented to the meeting. The greatest issue appeared to be the need for city centre facilities which would be most accessible to all people – a Barbican, or Barbican II was needed. An analysis of greater depth would be made in time for the next public meeting and would be presented to the City of York Council.

The next meeting of the York Sport & Leisure campaign will be at the Priory Street Centre at 7:30pm on Monday 24th July. New members are welcome. Information is available York Sport and Leisure Campaign launchby emailing yorkleisure@yahoo.co.uk