A new all-weather athletics hub in Dumbarton’s Posties Park now won’t open until August West Dunbartonshire Council have confirmed.
Plans 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 in setbacks.
The venue now won’t open until at least August – five months later than initially hoped.
A spokeswoman for West Dunbartonshire Council said: “Despite facing delays due to Covid, we are pleased that progress is being made on this new facility.
“This new facility with its beautiful natural backdrop will include a gym, changing facilities and a refurbished all-weather athletics track, with a completion date of August.”
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.
And 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 works under way on the site – which was initially due to open this month, more than four years later than originally planned. Plans show that a sports pavilion, gym, parking area and new running track are set to be built on the site.
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.
