Leisure centre lottery bid result delayed until April

(31st January 2003)

The decision on a £1.9m bid by North Hertfordshire District Council for lottery funding towards a new £6.5m leisure centre in Royston has been delayed until at least April by the lottery fund distributor, Sport England.

North Hertfordshire District Council, who submitted the bid last July, were told of the delay in a letter from Sport England's director of investment, David Payne.

The letter referred to a stock-taking exercise being undertaken by Sport England following a fall in income from reduced lottery tickets sales. It said that Sport England was to be reorganised, creating nine regional boards by April 2003 and that no new applications were being accepted in the meantime.

Of existing bids, such as that for Royston Leisure Centre, the letter said, "Lottery applications currently under initial assessment will be prepared for a funding decision by April 2003.

Chairman of the council's Royston & District Committee, Councillor Tony Hunter, said: "This delay is extremely disappointing and frustrating. We regret the action of Sport England and that we can now only wait until April.

He added: "We will now obviously have a look at our programme and how this will affect our original completion date. The main thing is to identify funding and we will look at other possibilities as we remain committed to securing the best possible outcome for Royston."

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