Moray 10 years ago: Deanshaugh playing fields in Elgin
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Taken from the files of the Northern Scot on February 11, 2013:
EFFORTS to restore an Elgin sporting facility blighted by past floods and remedial blunders are going to programme.
Work on Deanshaugh playing fields, as part of the building of the town’s £86 million flood alleviation scheme, is set to be completed by 2015 with the possibility of sport being played there a year later.
The facility has been out of action since 2005, with repair work failing the following year when a membrane laid to cap the former landfill site caused the drainage problem to worsen, rendering it unusable in wet weather.
Flood scheme project manager Peter Haslam said the new project is going according to plan.
It involves thousands of tons of surplus material from the flood works being used to raise the levels of the playing fields by around two metres to protect it from future bad weather.
“At the moment we are importing contaminated material to Deanshaugh and are preparing it ready to start via remediation round about the early spring,” Mr Haslam said.
“Works will continue on the site until around about spring 2015 when we will be seeding the site, which should then be available for football or sports purposes round about the 2016 or 2017, depending on the progress of the grass.”
He added that the work is going to programme, although the quantity of material taken to the site was larger than originally envisaged.
The raising of the ground is being carried out in stages with the material being spread over the site in layers, and suitable drainage incorporated.
When completed, plans are in place to lay four full-sized grass football pitches, along with a smaller training pitch which could be used for seven-a-side matches.
New access to Deanshaugh off Lesmurdie Road was created for the project, with the former entrance on Deanshaugh Road unsuitable for heavy construction traffic.
Mr Haslam said a decision on where the entrance for the new facility will be situated had yet to be made.
“It may be that we create a permanent access at the point we’ve got one just now, but it will depend on the views that members take.
“Until I have a final decision on this it would be proposed to remove the temporary access but I can see that there would be benefit in not doing so.”
