Schools hit back over claims Covid used as excuse to…

Schools hit back over claims Covid used as excuse to deny public access to sports facilities

A school trust has hit back over claims from a Nottinghamshire County Councillor of using Covid as an excuse to deny members of the public access to school sports facilities. The Two Counties Trust manages nine academy schools including Ashfield School, in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, and Selston High School, along with the Manor Park Sports Complex in Mansfield.

Ashfield District Council handed over the schools' sports facilities to the trust in 2018, including a 3G floodlit pitch, gym, indoor sports hall and external football pitches. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, all facilities, including the schools, closed.

While the schools have since reopened, the trust stopped letting members of the public hire pitch facilities last year, which caused problems for some sports clubs in the area.

Ashfield Independents councillor David Martin, who represents Selston for Nottinghamshire County Council, has claimed the trust has been using Covid as an excuse not to reopen the facilities to the public. He said: "There are 154 footballers from Selston alone who have been denied access to facilities. There were also around 50 young people attending the Base 16 Youth Club which is part of the same complex.

"Hundreds of young people have been denied access to what have always been previously accessible public facilities. The Two Counties Trust is hiding behind legislation that allows them to deny access to our sporting facilities."

But the Two Counties Trust has said public access to these facilities stopped so they could prioritise their students using them. It added there has been support from the "relevant people" in this decision.

A spokesperson for the Two Counties Trust said: "Ensuring we provide a high-quality education to our students, alongside supporting their physical and emotional wellbeing and safety, are our absolute priorities, and is the business we are primarily concerned with as a Trust. The decision to close the centre indefinitely was not made as a result of Covid.

"We made this difficult decision having carefully considered our use of the funding streams available to the Trust, choosing to allocate the resources available directly to our students. As part of our decision to close the centres, we have held several meetings with Nottinghamshire County Council, Ashfield District Council and one of the local MPs, Ben Bradley.

"Through these conversations the relevant people have been supportive of the Trust's decision. As part of the Trust's ongoing commitment to the local community, we welcome Selston Football Club three times a week, allowing them access to the outdoor pitches located on the school grounds, outside of school hours."

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