Udney Park latest news

You may all have noticed that a new hoarding is going up around the war memorial pavilion. This is part of efforts by the new owners to protect the building from continuing vandalism. The new owners have confirmed that this is part of remedial plan to include –

• Putting up hoarding around the perimeter of the building to secure the site 
• Securing existing windows and doors to prevent trespassing and vandalism 
• Soft striping the floor, wall, ceiling finishes
• Disposing of loose furniture, rubbish and other unwanted items
• Undertaking some enabling works including setup temporary electricity supply, lighting and water 
• Doing some roof and external wall repairs

All of this is to be welcomed as there were seven years of complete neglect under Quantum, and more recently there was considerable water damage to the building.

Looking beyond the immediate flurry of activity the Foundation continue to press for the resumption of community sport on this site. Our latest correspondence with the owners is as below –

Thank you for the update.

 Everyone will also welcome the action being taken to preserve the historical war memorial pavilion.

 The original drawings which you tabled with me indicted the Mr Wu’s plans sought to preserve the majority of the pitch layout the pitch shown on the Foundations plan below. If this remains the case then I would be keen to explore bringing the pitches back in to community use sooner rather than later. Both Hearts of Teddlothians and Thamesians RFC could make immediate use of this space. Please come back to me if this is a possibility for 2023/24.

Regarding Sports England, the above plan was developed after exhaustive dialogue with not just SE, but also the national sporting bodies – LTA, FA, RFU and ECB. It would seem unnecessary to go back to square one, and I would be happy to run through how this pitch layout was arrived at.

 I also had previous dialogue with three companies offering Agronomy services - PSD (Professional Sportsturf Design),TGMS and STRI . On sports lights I dealt with both Abacus and Musco. On tennis court resurfacing I sought advice from Trevor May – who my company also employed at the Queens Club. I have passed these contact details on to Mr Wu’s Architect.

 If you want community input via the Foundation then I would be happy to engage. The previous effort was very much focussed on real need in the borough, and had universal support from the local clubs.

As soon as there is any more news then I will update everyone