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AS TIME is running out to hope for an ice rink on the Isle of Wight again, the first phase of development for the Smallbrook Ice and Leisure Center (SILC) has been submitted – for the tennis courts.
Permission for the main facility, next to Smallbrook Stadium, was granted in December 2019, after support from hundreds of islanders persuaded the Isle of Wight Council’s planning committee to go to the against the recommendations of the officers to refuse the program.
The new indoor sports center has been approved to have an ice rink, multipurpose courts, a climbing wall, a trampoline area and tennis courts.
The plans have been welcomed by the community who had missed having an ice rink on the island, however, planning permission for the much-requested ice rink expires in December this year and there is no indication of a rink in the last submission.
Read more: Future of Isle of Wight ice rink uncertain due to drainage problem
The approved development of the Smallbrook Ice and Leisure Centre.
Plans for a tennis court. Photo by Duncan Gayler.
Plans have been submitted by Zyrieda Denning and Jasmine Sports, the project’s funders, for the first phase of the sports center’s development – but different from those approved.
The team seeks to change the plans, by modifying the layout.
The new application (21/02199/RVC) is to build tennis courts and structures, with temporary access and limited parking, on the area originally designated as parking.
It’s unclear whether plans for the rink should follow or not.
So far two naysayers have commented, with one saying it’s an entirely new proposal to the rink and should be treated as a new app.
The other questioned the lack of information, including what other phases of the original sports facilities were, saying there were ‘a large number’ of tennis courts on the island but no ice rink .
The two diagrams — the proposed tennis courts, on the left, and the approved parking lot, on the right. Photos by Duncan Gayler and ermc.
The Smallbrook Licensed Ice and Recreation Center. Photo by ermc.
Another request (21/02200/DIS) aims to discharge the conditions of the initial major request for the sports center, but in relation to the tennis courts.
They suggest that use of the tennis courts will be limited to a maximum of eight people at a time and that the courts will be open between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
In reviewing the two applications, Island Roads said it was unable to recommend discharge of the freeway conditions.
The highways authority had previously opposed the main development and said its concerns remain, seeking more information.
We contacted a spokesperson on behalf of the promoters to clarify their plans for an ice rink.
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