SPORT £100m Eco Park plans unveiled


Forest Green Rovers Football Club (FGR) has revealed ambitious plans to build a £100m, eco-friendly sports and green technology complex which would include a new 5,000-capacity stadium. Te club currently plays in


the National League – the fiſth tier of English football – and the Eco Park project is part of a strategy to establish FGR as a Football League club. FGR is working together


with Stroud-based green energy company Ecotricity on the plans. Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, is also chair of FGR. Plans for the Eco Park – to be located adjacent to junction 13 of the M5 motorway in Gloucestershire – are designed to be sus- tainable and future proof. Should the club achieve its target of reaching the Football League, the flexible design of the stadium will allow capacity to be doubled to 10,000. Other facilities within the sports complex include full-size training pitches, 4G six-a-side


Te Eco Park will include a flexible stadium for Forest Green Rovers


pitches, an athletics arena, multi-disciplinary sporting facilities and a sports science hub. Te other half of Eco Park – located on the


other side of the A419 road which divides the project into two separate sites – will comprise a green technology business park with sustain- able commercial offices and light industrial units potentially capable of creating 4,000 jobs. Details: http://lei.sr?a=E9V7c_O


Glasgow 2014 worth £740m to Scotland The


Gl a sg ow 20 1 4


Commonwealth Games has provided the Scottish economy with a £740m boost over the past eight years. The Post-Games Report,


published by the Scottish Government, charts the impact of the Games since 2007 – the year Glasgow won the bid to host the event – and shows that the Games has also supported on average 2,100 jobs each year. As well as the direct


economic boost, the Games also helped Scotland’s labour market, particularly in Glasgow, with more than 11,000 young people benefitting from a range of national and local employability programmes. Tourism was among the sectors to benefit


too, with the Glasgow 2014 Culture Programme attracting a mass audience of 2.1 million and 690,000 unique visitors. Direct spending by those visitors has been calculated as £74m. Te report also found the Games brought


significant investment in regeneration, with land remediation, transport infrastructure, and Games-time sports facilities such as the


© CYBERTREK 2015 Te Games attracted an estimated 690,000 visitors to Scotland


Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Emirates Arena and Tollcross International Swimming Centre (all in Glasgow) now being used by the public. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the


report and said it was indicative of long-term benefits. “As this evaluation report also shows, Glasgow 2014 was about far more than two weeks of great sport,” she said. “Te economic, cultural and regeneration benefits have been significant.” Details: http://lei.sr?a=V5F2b_O


Twitter: @leisureopps Sepp Blatter will not stand for re-election


Fifa presidential election to be held in February


Fifa has announced that an extraordinary congress will be held on 26 February 2016 where football’s embattled governing body will convene to elect its new president. Sepp Blatter was re-elected as Fifa


president on 29 May earlier this year, but announced his intention to stand down four days later after scandal erupted relating to investigations into corruption within the world football body. Candidates have to be nominated by


26 October, with names including David Ginola and Diego Maradona expressing their interest in the position. Uefa presi- dent Michel Platini is among the favourites, having been asked to stand for the presi- dency by a number of world football chiefs. Meanwhile, there was speculation over


Blatter’s future after he said he didn’t actually resign and could possibly stand in the February re-election. He was reported to have said: “I have not resigned, I put my mandate in the hands of an extraordinary congress.” Fifa later clarified that Blatter would not be standing as a candidate. Details: http://lei.sr?a=4C8x5_O


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Historic Sobell Leisure Centre receives facelift


London’s historic Sobell Leisure Centre in Islington – the only leisure centre to be designed by celebrated Centre Point architect Richard Seifert – has received sig- nificant upgrades as part of a £1.2m faceliſt. Te project saw the refurbishment of the


junior gym to include a sprint track and an expansion of the Gallery Gym to provide a boxing facility, with Technogym and Escape Fitness the main suppliers. Tere were also significant improvements to the sports hall so there are more opportuni- ties for sports such as football, basketball, netball, volleyball, and gymnastics. Te changing rooms have also been upgraded. Details: http://lei.sr?a=P3K2S_O


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