Future
In 2006 the City of Edinburgh Council decided to demolish Meadowbank Stadium and to replace it with a smaller community facility on the east side of the city. A smaller sports centre was to be built to the west of the city, probably in Sighthill. This proposal was met with opposition from users of the facility.
Thousands of people have shown their opposition to the proposal to build hundreds of flats on the Meadowbank site, by signing petitions, sending objections, attending public meetings and marching to demand that Meadowbank is saved and refurbished. These demonstrations of public opposition have led the Council to look at ways to refurbish the training facility.
The proposal is also opposed by those who support retention of the stadium to be used for speedway and greyhound racing. The move has been further cast into doubt due to delays with the Sighthill project, uncertainty over the future of Edinburgh Rugby (who were to have been a major tenant), and possible moves to upgrade Scotstoun athletics stadium in Glasgow as an alternative.
The draft Meadowbank Development Brief was approved by the Council on 7 December 2006 for consultation (Council's Development Brief). The consultation ran until 28 March 2007. The Development Brief states that "housing is the most appropriate alternative use of the site" and that "high density development is acceptable in principle".
On 13 March 2008, Edinburgh Council voted to sell the land that is occupied by Meadowbank stadium and build a smaller sports facility on east of the site. (Indicative diagrams). (National and Regional Sports facilities progress report).
It was announced on 28 October 2008 that X-Factor winner Leon Jackson would be playing the stadium's annual fireworks display on 5 November 2008. Jackson is one of many campaigning to save the stadium.
Read more about this topic: Meadowbank Stadium
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we may yet find at galaxy’s edge. But in the process, we have lost the human element; not to mention the high hope of those quaint days when flight would create “one world.” Instead of one world, we have “star wars,” and a future in which dumb dented human toys will drift mindlessly about the cosmos long after our small planet’s dead.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
“To believe in something not yet proved and to underwrite it with our lives: it is the only way we can leave the future open. Man, surrounded by facts, permitting himself no surmise, no intuitive flash, no great hypothesis, no risk, is in a locked cell. Ignorance cannot seal the mind and imagination more surely.”
—Lillian Smith (1897–1966)
“That children link us with the future is hardly news. . . . When we participate in the growth of children, a sense of wonder must take hold of us, providing for us a sense of future. Without the intimation of concrete individual futures, it is hardly worth bothering with social change and improvement.”
—Greta Hofmann Nemiroff (20th century)