Council funds £30,000 regeneration of running track

7.09.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 18th Oct 2008

• THE Council announced at the Cabinet meeting on 22 September that it will be keeping the all-weather athletics track at Barn Elms and agreed an outlay of up to £30,000 to clean and repair it.

The track is popular with local schools, running groups and individuals and the decision to make the funding available for the regeneration of the track will allow recreational and leisure use to continue for years to come. Commenting on the announcement Cllr Liz Jaeger Cabinet Member for Youth, Culture and Leisure said: "We are delighted to announce £30,000 of funds for the regeneration of the running track at Barn Elms. The track is important to community life in Barnes and is used by children, recreational runners and competitive athletes. The funding will rejuvenate the track for the run up to 2012 and beyond. The decision to retain the track is part of a wider commitment to improve public sports facilities at Barn Elms. We shall work together with existing users of Barn Elms, the local community and Barnes Vision to pursue a non-commercial fundraising approach as advocated by Barnes Vision - rather than selling part of the site. Involvement in sport and physical exercise is a top priority for the Council. We are particularly proud of existing programmes such as Competitive Edge which has significantly increased young people's participation in sport. We are also of course the proud holders of the title England's fittest borough as demonstrated by Sport England surveys in recent years."