ALTON and District Sports Council is calling for an emergency meeting with Alton Town Council following the long-awaited release of an invitation to interested parties to attend an Alton Sports Centre project board which, it fears, will be nothing but “a red herring”.

The invitation, from East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) leader Richard Millard, to members of interested parties to join a project board to provide an opportunity for “meaningful debate” in a bid to produce “a leisure centre that will cater for the current and future sporting and leisure needs of the growing Alton community” has been a long time coming, according to Alton and District Sports Council chairman Joe Walters.

But the disappointment goes far deeper. It seems the terms of reference will promote discussion over “the products, services and programming activity within the new centre” but not the facility mix, and this, for Alton and District Sports Council, was the key reason for joining the board.

While the facilities mix was signed off as part of a legal agreement between EHDC and Everyone Active at the end of March, without full public consultation, the hope was that the project board would provide an opportunity to influence the mix. But it appears to remain “non-negotiable”.

According to Tom Gaynor, an Alton and District Sports Council member and chair of Alton Rugby Club, East Hampshire District Council has confirmed that “the facilities have been agreed using the results of studies looking at the current and future needs of the Alton community and calculating the mix of facilities that would best serve the area as a whole”.

“However, the project development board will have an important role in shaping the products, services and activities provided.

“It will also discuss matters relating to the impact of the site and work to ensure access to sport to the widest section of the community,” he added.

But that’s not good enough, according to Alton and District Sports Council, which is demanding an urgent meeting with Alton Town Council, to include representatives from the surrounding villages, to discuss the matter before the first project board meeting.