Bracknell Forest Council hopes to score a major win tonight by securing renewal of the running track at Bracknell Sports Centre.
Councillors say they are proud to invest in the track even as they must make cuts elsewhere. The council’s annual budget is expected to be confirmed at tonight’s meeting, when the council tax will be set and savings must be found to balance the books by the end of the quarter.
Band A council tax this year will be: £1,261.31 in Bracknell; £1,259.77 in Crowthorne; £1,244.27 in Sandhurst; £1,232.47 in Binfield; £1,229.91 in Warfield; and £1,245.58 in Winkfield.
Most council tax money goes on adult and children’s social care. Because those costs sit in revenue budgets, while sports facilities come under capital spending, the council can cut services such as buses but still invest in leisure projects.
The council is expecting to invest more than £650,000 in local leisure facilities, including the running track at Bracknell Leisure Centre and essential maintenance at Coral Reef Waterworld and Downshire Golf Course. That comes as the council faces a £10 million deficit on revenue spending, partly driven by social care and special needs provision.
Bracknell’s running track
The track is cheap to use — a single session costs less than £3.50 — and Bracknell Athletic Club has its club house next to the track. It has a polyurethane-based surface often called a 'tartan' track, although 'Tartan' is a brand, like 'Hoover' or 'Biro'.
Originally the venue had a cinder track. Bracknell’s 1960s synthetic surface was in use by May 1968, before the full Tartan track at Crystal Palace opened later that year. The Sports Centre next door opened in 1967. A new synthetic track and stadium were opened by Neil Macfarlane MP, Minister for Sport, on 9 September 1984 following a donation by John Nike of Binfield; it originally had a Resisport surface.
The track was resurfaced in 2000 with Polytan polyurethane and reopened in October 2000; an internal runway was grassed over and no longer exists. According to the UK running track directory, tentative 1998 plans for an indoor 200m track on the site were never realised.
The draft budget was approved at a cabinet meeting on 11 February and is expected to be passed at full council tonight.
Ted O'Neill, Local Democracy Reporter
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