A NEW system being proposed by the borough council to deliver sport in West Devon is expected to have major implications for a recreation association in Okehampton.
But OCRA, which has been bringing sport to the community for the last decade, disputes that. OCRA said it was looking to build on its achievements so far which focused on sport development across north west Devon.
OCRA sports development officer Stuart Lord said: ?OCRA has built a good foundation and links for community activity ? as a charity we have been able to access £100,000 in the past four years to put into community schemes or facilities and this has delivered hundreds of recreational opportunities to thousands of people.?
These have included a diverse range of ?affordable? sport development schemes, girls? football teams, men?s basketball teams and children?s gymnastics squads, outreach sports activities in ten villages, Okehampton Sportsweek, a new skate park in Okehampton and working with health and education groups. This is on top of managing the college sports facilities and signposting people to what is going on in the area.
Although West Devon Borough Council says it wants to extend leisure provision beyond the towns of Tavistock and Okehampton with a central base from which to co-ordinate it, it has also confirmed it has no additional money to put into sport.
Both OCRA and TACRA, which the council helped to establish and to which it contributes £10,500 worth of funding a year, have focussed their work on the town?s colleges where they make use of and let out the facilities to deliver sport to the community.
But while TACRA has indicated a wish to cease operations ? one of the reasons being Tavistock College?s need to use the ?fitness suite? rooms for curricular purposes ? OCRA is looking to extend its activities.
The organisation said the existing Okehampton sports hall would be taken out of community use when the new Parklands Leisure Centre opened in the town later this year and this would obviously lose income to OCRA.
?The new sports centre will be run by a commercial contractor who will wish to make a profit and this is likely to have financial implications for sport in Okehampton,? said Mr Lord.
Councillors have expressed a wish to incorporate OCRA under the new system, but if not, sports development such as taster sessions, would have to be bought in.
?The borough council by its own admission sees leisure as a low priority ? why does it not back and support existing organisations who can and want to deliver sport and recreation for their community?? added Mr Lord.
Director of community and services for the council David Inman told members of the economic, leisure and community development committee last week that OCRA and TACRA had worked ?extremely hard? and made maximum use of the sports facilities.
?We are indebted to individuals in the community who have managed to do a lot of work over a long period, but the difficulty is they are reliant on certain income flows which look set to disappear,? he said.
Whatever money was going into leisure nationally was through the health agenda so by forming a leisure co-ordination group it could bring in the primary care trusts as well as the county council and the market and coastal towns initiative, which all had the capability of drawing down funds, he added.
?The borough council itself does not have leisure as one of its priorities.
?In a cash starved environment this effectively means there can be no expectation whatsoever of new money on the table from the borough council; best possible use has to be made of existing resource.?
Cllr Dick Eberlie said OCRA played a valuable community role and the council should continue to be supportive of that organisation.
?It would be foolish for the council to be seen to be killing them off,? he said.