One of the most esteemed cycling coaches in Wales, who coached Welsh star Geraint Thomas, has said the loss of Maindy Velodrome would be a "detriment" to cycling.
Alan Davis, who received the MBE for services to youth cycling in Wales, has offered his support to the Save Maindy Velodrome group which is fighting to stop Maindy Park disappearing under concrete as part of a controversial school expansion.
Cardiff Council has proposed that Maindy Park Trust, the charity under which Maindy Park is protected - and of which the council is the sole trustee - should release its land. In exchange, the council proposed that the trust should be given land at Blackweir Fields and Caedelyn Park.
If the exchange went ahead, it would pave the way for the expansion of Cathays High - a development that would provide a bigger and more modern school for a rapidly expanding part of Cardiff. However, the development would also mean the demolition of Maindy Velodrome. The plans have been largely met with opposition from locals.
The council is undertaking a separate project to relocate the existing velodrome to the International Sports Village - something Alan believes would leave Welsh cycling at a disadvantage. With more than 25 years experience at the club, Alan knows exactly how youngsters come into the sport - he started out at Maindy Flyers first as a parent and then a coach. Indeed, Maindy has spawned several international cycling careers including Luke Rowe, Dani King, Owain Doull and Elinor Barker leaving the likes of Chris Boardman wondering "what are they doing there, how are they getting all these kids and how are they making them so fast".
“The club had been going three months when my son Michael joined in October 1995,” Alan said. “My son and Geraint knew each other before because they used to swim together."
It was only because of Maindy's central location that Geraint ever got into cycling at all, he said. To strip the club facility from the city centre and replace it with an all-singing all-dancing facility down the Bay would mean the next Geraint might never get the chance to try out the sport.
"I think it's going to an area which is a detriment to cycling," Alan said. "The new facility is going to be extremely limited."
He's referring to the fact the proposed new track - designed by specialist consultants - will be significantly steeper banking than the one at Maindy and will limit the type of bike that can be ridden on the track.
"The level of banking that is proposed I don't think will be safe to ride anything other than the fixed wheel bikes," Alan explained. The Maindy velodrome is available to all types of bikes and children can start at Maindy Flyers from as young as four-years-old - even if that is just doing a lap around the track: "That means a lot when you're four years old," said Alan. "If you want to grow the sport you have to get kids interested at an early age."
"At no point have people been presented with options or choices," he added. He believes the final design of the proposed track at the Bay has been one which "fits in with the parcel of land" rather than meets the requirements of the cycling community.
"That causes me a disquiet because you're no longer delivering a facility that the community want, you're delivering what will fit," he said.
Alan also believes that for some people living in Cardiff, it would actually be quicker and easier for them to travel to the existing national velodrome in Newport - which comes with a roof - rather than trek across Cardiff City to get to the Bay. Kids will lose out, he said.
"I can be absolutely categorical about that and the reason I can say that if I look at the kids who've come through - Geraint, Elinor, Owain - they stumbled into cycling because they just happened to be here," said Alan. "You will not have that in the new facility. There won't be the community feel we have here. There won't be the ability for kids just to rock up and ride their bikes."
"The new facility will be behind fences," he added.
Alan isn't against the idea of the new facility at the International Sports Village, in fact he welcomes the desire to bring new facilities to the capital. He just doesn't think it should be an either/or scenario and he thinks more should be done to work with the existing cycling clubs and triathlon clubs to establish what they want. As an "expert" he can also understand the desire to increase the banking - that is the angle of the track - to accommodate racing.
"But you have to have an understanding of what the user needs and wants," Alan said. "If you don't deliver that they won't use the facility and if they don't use the facility you won't get the income and you won't get the future stars. If you don't have a user, you're doomed from the start. Look at the purpose-built facilities built for Athens and Atlanta - they're lying empty now because you don't have the user."
The other key consideration is a "purpose-built velodrome does not pay for itself". The group trying to save the Maindy velodrome have questioned the feasibility of the new velodrome to generate income of around £100,000.
The group are adamant that the process has been flawed from the start. They believe the council should not be able to continue as sole trustee of the Maindy Park charity - which was set up to preserve the Maindy site for park and recreation in perpetuity - while also trying to sell the site to itself to build over.
The council has admitted a conflict of interest between its role as the sole trustee of Maindy Park Trust and the local education authority and has has proposed setting up an independent committee to advise whether or not the land exchange should go ahead.
If it is approved the Maindy Park Trust Advisory Committee would be made up of three independent members of the Standards and Ethics Committee and or the Governance and Audit Committee. Even so, a number of questions still remain: what happens if the independent committee decides against the land swap? What if the Charity Commission decides against the land swap? Even if the committee approves the proposal, it would need consent from the Charity Commission. Some of these issues are to be discussed at a council committee meeting on October 12.
Leader of the opposition at Cardiff Council, Cllr Adrian Robson, asked September's cabinet meeting: "What is the back up plan here from Cardiff Council?"
Council leader, Cllr Huw Thomas responded: "I think it would have been much clearer from the process perspective had we known of the current issues around it. "We are where we are. We are working our way through it.
"This report and the report that will subsequently go to council is concerned with the process of making a decision on that land. "In terms of your question on what happens in terms of the school, that is a legitimate question, but a separate question."
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