Improved sports facilities for town

NEW investigations into providing improved sports facilities in Halesworth are under way.

Renewed calls were made this week by town council chairman Janet Wright who has echoed concerns from Tony Goldson, from the town's playing field association, that Halesworth desperately needs a new

21st century sports provision to ensure that talent

stays in the community.

Plans to build a new pool and gym on a new site have hit the buffers, and the latest idea is to refurbish the existing outdoor swimming pool, enclose it, roof it and add an adjacent gym.

Mrs Wright said: "There is just not enough grass available in the town at the moment for football let

alone anything else;, we desperately need more space.

"The existing recreation ground is not enough for a town like Halesworth and it seems ridiculous that people should have to travel to Bungay, Beccles and Southwold just to take part in sport - even some of the villages, such as Wenhaston, have better facilities than us."

Mrs Wright said Mr Goldson had made an informal presentation to the town council about how he would like to see the sport facilities in the town improve.

"The town council has welcomed these proposals and if these changes were made it would go some way to improving the facilities here in the town," added Mrs Wright.

"The idea of attaching the gym to the swimming pool was particularly welcomed as pools on their own do not tend to make money and the gym will go some way to helping change this.

"We had wanted to move to a bigger and better site, but this has proven difficult, so I think for the moment we need to work with what Halesworth has at the moment."

Ways of financing the refurbishment will now be investigated.