Political football
Written by admin on June 27, 2011
A political turf war has broken out after a decision to give Maxwelltown High School a 3G pitch (an all weather synthetic facility for all sports including, football, basketball and hockey) was overturned by the council and was then given to Dumfries High school.
Sam Johnston the head of the parent council at Maxwelltown High said, “This is an absolute outrage. Everyone involved with the school is furious that this decision has been taken.” She added: “This pitch would have really brought the community together and been great for the area.”
“After our bid was accepted by the area committee, we were confident we would get the 3G pitch, which would have been great for the school and the community. Instead, it is another blow for the DG2 area code and DG1 gets another facility.”
The three options on the table at the policy and resources committee were partnerships of Maxwelltown High with Queen of the South; Dumfries High with Greystone Rovers; and St Joseph’s College and Heston Rovers, with the pitch to be laid at Maryfield.
Labour councillors Colin Smyth and Ronnie Nicolson traded verbal blows in the debating chamber over their preferred bids – St Joseph’s College and Maxwelltown High, respectively.
No one was strongly fighting for the Dumfries High bid, and Greystone Rovers did not have a representative present, but before the final votes were cast, council leader Ivor Hyslop waded in, supporting the Dumfries High option.
He said: “As a former St Joseph’s College pupil, I must say that we never used Maryfield – it was too far away. That is my primary reason for thinking that Dumfries High School would be my preferred choice.”
Convener Patsy Gilroy backed the move, and the option beat the other schools in the vote – overturning the area committee decision which had been made only by Nithsdale members.
Queen of the South Chairman, David Rae said: “I am surprised that the decision has been changed after the Max High option was first accepted.” It had been anticipated that the Maxwelltown High bid would be accepted with more debate taking place over whether a second bid would go to Annan or Stranraer.
