The 'Save Meadowbank' march today protested against the proposed closure of Meadowbank stadium to allow development of some of the land for new luxury flats. The Save Meadowbank campaign expresses worries that a new stadium is financed with Private Finance in less accessible Sighthill. It states: "The Council admits that most of the funding could, like the ERI at Little France, 'include Public Private Partnership deals with private developers'. And as the NHS experience shows, these private PPP (or PFI) deals often cost the public around 5 times what they should." The proposals represent "an unacceptable loss of sport and recreation facilities to housing", says Mark Ballard MSP. who supports the campaign and joined the march of about 600 people. Many political parties were represented on the march including Liberal Democrat (Councillor Marjorie Thomas), Green (Mark Bollard MSP and Robin Harper MSP) and Socialist (Colin Fox MSP). "Meadowbank Stadium was the home of the Commonwealth Games in 1970 and 1986, and stadia in Berlin, Helsinki, Stockholm and Los Angeles have all been successfully refurbished and all are older than Meadowbank.", states a recent Parliamentary motion on the subject. The loss to Scotland's sporting heritage was also highlighted: "Meadowbank having been home to Liz McColgan's first Commonwealth title in 1986 and Lachie Stewart's Commonwealth 10,000m victory over Ron Clarke in 1970 to name but two iconic performances." Edinburgh is already loosing more and more sports facilities, according to the "Save Meadowbank" Campaign. The East is already set to lose the Pitz football pitches in Portobello, Leith Waterworld, and Portobello Golf Course. The East of the City cannot afford to lose this popular and well-used public facility and Edinburgh landmark. But people from all over Edinburgh and beyond oppose this sale of yet another public asset for private profit! http://www.savemeadowbank.org/ Meadowbank is home to the Edinburgh South Harriers, currently the best women's athletic club in the UK, having won last season's UK League. Among the main objections to the proposed demolition are the fact that this would leave the East side of Edinburgh without equivalent facilities and mean that Central and East residents would face a long round journey to facilities on the west side of the city. This would particularly exclude residents in East Lothian that currently travel in via established transport links that pass the stadium. The campaign to save Meadowbank has attracted support from a wide range of athlete's and other celebrity figures, including Scots champion boxer Alex Arthur, Olympic medal winner Lauren Peffers as well as the Proclaimers and Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman.

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http://www.savemeadowbank.org/