Plans for a new gym and all-weather running track at Posties Park should be complete by the summer.
Proposals have been in place aimed at regenerating the Levenside venue into a state-of-the-art athletics track since 2016 – but have been hit by a string of delays and setbacks.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the facility was due to open last March – but now won’t welcome athletes until this summer.
Speaking at a meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council’s infrastructure, regeneration and economic development committee (IRED) last week, council leader Martin Rooney, said: “I would like information on the development of Posties Park. The track is all done, it is just the building that seems to be taking longer to complete.
“Can we get an update on that?”
Council officer Craig Jardine confirmed that he had hoped Scottish Water would complete their work by the end of January, but that the local authority is now expecting it to take place within the next four weeks.
He said: “There is still the commission and testing period and the resurfacing of the road once all the pipework is installed. By the time that is all complete and the building is operational – you will be talking early summer time.
“We don’t have a definite date yet but that is the latest position we have now.”
Councillor Michelle McGinty added: “I would like to follow on from that and ask how late are we running with the project and what is the increased cost of that.
“Have we done anything else to mitigate the length of time this is going to take to be completed?”
Roads and neighbourhoods officer Gail McFarlane advised members that she would not be able to provide an updated figure until all the work had been completed.
Ms McFarlane said: “We need to look at any other claims as well to ensure we have a full picture and understanding of what the final cost is going to be.
“After an appropriate point I am happy to provide a briefing on that.”
In 2017 a £500,000 funding application to sportscotland for the project was rejected, leaving West Dunbartonshire Council to pay for the £1.65m renovation themselves.
Three years later, in 2020, we told how explosives experts had been drafted in to assess the site, after believing it could contain unexploded World War Two bombs dropped during the Clydebank Blitz.
Permission was finally granted in early 2021, with work initially expected to be complete by March 2022 – more than four years later than originally planned.
Proposals show that a sports pavilion, gym, parking area and new running track will feature on the site, near Levengrove Park.
Two formal planning applications were submitted with the first for the pavilion with gym and changing facilities which will also feature hospitality space, and the second for the refurbishment of existing athletics facilities including a 1.8m high perimeter fence and access gates as well as floodlighting.
