Sports facilities boost for Johnstone

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People in Johnstone are to benefit from new sports facilities while their local football team gets a brand new ground.

Plans to move Johnstone Burgh Football Club to a new ground and create public sports facilities at Johnstone High School have been confirmed by Renfrewshire Council's community and family care policy board (Tuesday 19 February).

Under the proposals, Johnstone Burgh will move to the McMaster Centre which will be redeveloped for the football club.

A new synthetic pitch will be built at Johnstone High School and this, along with the recently built games hall, will be available to the public outside of school hours. During school hours they will only be used by the school.

The new pitch and games hall will be managed out of school hours by Renfrewshire Leisure Ltd who will provide staff, a programme of classes, coaching sessions for adults and children and casual bookings. Renfrewshire Leisure will apply its current pricing policy, including concessions for pensioners, the unemployed and under-18s.

Councillor Eileen McCartin, convener of Renfrewshire Council's community and family care board, said: "This proposal will see better sports facilities not only for a popular local football club but also for the whole community of Johnstone."

"The new pitch and the games hall at Johnstone High will be run out of school hours in the same way as Renfrewshire Leisure's other sports facilities in the area. This means people in Johnstone and local clubs will get the chance to enjoy the use of excellent modern facilities on their doorsteps."

Joyce McKellar, chief executive of Renfrewshire Leisure, said: "We will be providing Johnstone Burgh and the many youngsters who play in local youth teams with 21st century playing and changing facilities."

"The wider community will also benefit as there will be a new synthetic surface football park along with indoor sports facilities being made available in the evenings and at weekends to the public at Johnstone High School."

"The newly-created Johnstone High School Leisure Centre will be a modern sports and leisure facility on par with our other sports centres at Linwood, Erskine, Renfrew and the new centre being built at the Lagoon, in Paisley."

Joyce added: "This is about giving people living in Johnstone more access to facilities that encourage them to become and stay active by participating in sport."

Johnstone Burgh president Derek Devlin said: "This is going to be brilliant, not only for the club, but for the whole community in Johnstone."

“It will be a real boost for Johnstone Burgh and all the youngsters between the ages of seven and 17 who play for our youth teams. These kids will have excellent facilities for training with the new synthetic surface park being built."

"We pride ourselves in being a community club and we are delighted to be playing our part in a development which will also see a huge boost in sport and leisure facilities for the whole of Johnstone."

Press release: Wednesday 20 February 2008