Sports centre plans for city move ahead
The municipality will go ahead with its plans to build a training centre with a football academy on the grounds of the Newmarket Stables and Stables Lifestyle Market.
PLANS to build an international training centre with a football academy at the Newmarket Stables and Stables Lifestyle Market will go ahead, following approval by full Council on 4 May.
The public participation process for the Hoy Park Development was completed last year and the report was approved in Council. According to eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson, Thulani Mbatha, the municipality has achieved all compliance requirements necessary for the development of the sports academy, and the land can therefore be leased for the development.
Mbatha said the report laid before Council stated that both the Provincial and National Treasury have no objections to the sports academy, provided that all necessary processes have been complied with.
The municipality said they were acting in the best interest of sports development.
“What I want to know is, why have a public participation process if it is merely a box ticking exercise? Why ask the people of the city for their views, if the government of this city has made its decision already and will ignore the outcome of the process? said Morningside ward councillor, Martin Meyer.
“We must be a council that listens to the people. We must look at all options that are available to us, and not just run through with an idea when there is clearly unhappiness regarding the matter. When the decisions of council directly affect the income of families and when it is a ‘bread-and-butter’ issue, then we must exhaust all options, and we have not done so here.”
