Track stop

A move by the football club to the stadium at Monks Cross in time for the start of the 2004/05 season is an option if a lease extension at Bootham Crescent falls through.

But in order for the move to be successful, the athletics track would need to be ripped up as part of a substantial upgrade to the facilities to bring the venue in line with Football League standards.

Gordon Priestley, chairman of Nestl Rowntree Athletics Club, has submitted his club's objections to City's scheme to the City of York Council.

Talks between City and NRAC about replacement facilities for the athletes at the University of York have also been on-going. NRAC say that a scheme must be up and running before they move out of Huntington Stadium and will cost City at least £500,000.

In his letter of objection to the council, Priestley wrote: "On behalf of the 316 members of Nestl Rowntree Athletics Club and the 2,000 or so athletes, coaches, officials and other signatories of our petition to keep athletics there, I wish to register our objection to the plan which envisages no athletics facilities in Huntington in the future."

"They are the only publically available, all-weather facilities in North Yorkshire," said Priestley.

"As such, they are essential for the survival of Nestl Rowntree AC. NRAC have over 200 members between eight and 17 and need a servicable, all-weather, floodlit track to coach them in safety on Monday and Wednesday evenings all year round.

"The facilities are also a key part of the UK Athletics competition infrastructure in the region. Schools from all over York and North Yorkshire use them for sports days, as well as athletics leagues from the Midlands, North and Scotland and disabled athletes.

"Given the key role of Huntington Stadium in national and local athletics, therefore, we have no alternative but to object to the application unless and until a new facility to county standard is commissioned for us in the city of York."

Priestley helped to draw up a detailed plan for a new all-weather facility at the Heslington campus at a meeting on December 18 and a response from the football club is expected shortly.

Priestley said: "It was a constructive and friendly meeting with the university and we discussed all our requirements and the plans.

"Obviously the university sports committee have got to think it over but we have now drawn up a plan with minimum specifications and sent it to Ian McAndrew (City's stadium development director) and are now awaiting his response."

Priestley continued: "We have to have a facility that is at least as good as at Huntington Stadium. We need an all-weather track with all-weather throwing and jumping, floodlit, well-drained, with cover for schools and disabled supporters and spectators. And it has to be certificated to county standards.

"We have come up with a plan that is not quite as good as Huntington Stadium, but we are trying to compromise and help and we think that it will be just about good enough. It's a minimum but it should do."

Implementing the scheme, which was designed with the help of UK Athletics' facilities director, Ken Oakley, would cost more than £500,000 and would take months to build.

"One of the things we are going to have to manage to live with is an all-weather pitch in the middle of the track which at the moment is used for hockey but is also sometimes used for five-a-side football," added Priestley.

"Health and safety is of prominent importance and we will have to make sure that is not a health and safety issue with balls flying across the track. Bearing in mind the fact that two-thirds of our members are under 18, we have a duty to make sure that their health and safety is cared for."

Updated: 10:09 Tuesday, December 30, 2003