Massive cash boost for sport facilities in Dumfries and Galloway

Thursday 2 March 2006

Dumfries and Galloway is to have a new a state-of-the art sport facility backed by £1.25 million from sportscotland, Sports Minister Patricia Ferguson announced today.

A brand new sports centre with competition swimming pool, sports hall and health suite is to be built in Dumfries.

The facility also boasts a training pool with moveable floor, a leisure water area with changing facilities, fitness area and dance/aerobic studio, and is due to be open in autumn 2007.

Ms Ferguson said:

"Quality local facilities are essential for the development of world class athletes. Regional facilities like these also help to ensure that athletes have access training they need to compete successfully on the national and even international stage.

"It will also be a valuable asset for the local community, offering a wide range of opportunities for people to get active."

This exciting project will complement the network of facilities which is being developed as part of the National and Regional Sports Facilities Strategy. This award is evidence of sportscotland’s commitment to work with its partners to complete a network of regional facilities, in order that Scotland has a sporting infrastructure that supports the pathways from participation through to excellence.

The Dumfries & Galloway Sports Complex will replace the existing Dumfries Swimming Pool and Loreburn Hall and will significantly improve and enhance leisure and sport provision throughout Dumfries & Galloway. Indeed the facility will be a flagship site for Dumfries and Galloway Council with the relocation of its Leisure & Sport and Sport Development departments to the complex. It will also be the hub for community coaching for the area with 12 coaches based there, of which six will be new posts.

"It will also be a valuable asset for the local community, offering a wide range of opportunities for people to get active."

Convener of Dumfries and Galloway Council, Tommy Sloan commented, "This is great news. We are delighted that sportscotland have shown their faith in this project by awarding it £1.25 million, which is by far the largest sports lottery award ever to come to Dumfries and Galloway. We look forward to working closely with sportscotland to ensure the new Leisure Complex is an asset for the whole region."

Julia Bracewell OBE, Chair, sportscotland said: "We are delighted to be supporting the development of the Dumfries and Galloway Leisure Complex with a £1.25m award from the sportscotland Building for Sport programme.

"This key regional facility will benefit athletes from across Dumfries & Galloway and moves Scotland closer to completing a network of high quality regional training and competition facilities. This project also offers the local community of Dumfries increased opportunities to participate and develop in sport."

• Launched in March 2004, the Building for Sport Programme (BfS) is divided into two strands Community Facilities and Training and Competition Facilities.
• Applications for the Community Facilities Programme will mainly be led by local authorities, clubs and trusts and covers the provision or upgrading of facilities for the local community.
• The Training and Competition Facilities Programme will concentrate on the provision or upgrading of centres designated as a national or regional facility by the relevant national governing body for sport.
• The National and Regional Facilities Strategy aims to provide a network of world-class training and competition facilities across Scotland, designed in particular to support the needs of Scotland’s elite athletes. The facilities will serve the geographic areas covered by the Area Institutes of Sport: Central, East of Scotland, Grampian, Highland, Tayside & Fife and West of Scotland. In July 2004 a funding package of £49.5m of public money was announced by the Scottish Executive and ten successful bids were selected to progress to stage two of the application process.