A north-east swimming star has given her backing to multimillion-pound plans to transform a sports centre in her hometown.
World and Commonwealth Games champion, Hannah Miley, said the proposals for the Garioch Sports and Community Centre “would be spectacular” for Inverurie.
Local residents have been offered the chance to voice their opinions on the proposals for the new sports facilities at a series of public exhibitions after a planning application was lodged with Aberdeenshire Council.
The centre would also become the new home of Highland League club Inverurie Loco Works FC.
Double Olympian Miss Miley also endorsed a campaign to bring an eight-lane swimming pool to the town as part of plans for the 1,600-pupil Inverurie Community Campus.
Garioch Amateur Swimming Club is leading the drive to get an eight-lane “competition-standard” facility.
The current swimming pool in the town only has four lanes and has come under increasing pressure with the expansion of the community in recent years.
Miss Miley said: “It’s such a fast-growing town that every time I go in, there’s new homes being built, and from the swimming pool point of view – the queue for getting lessons is huge.
“Having an eight-lane pool would increase the number of lessons we could have, and on top of that, if we have this sports facility it would mean Garioch can hopefully expand and become a really well-renowned professional club.
“I’ve been part of that team for the last 20-odd years, and to get to the level we got to with only a 25m pool is fantastic.
But it only bodes well for Inverurie as a kind of sporting capital to know it now has the potential for a good gym facility and hopefully a good swimming pool facility.
“It will be great for Aberdeenshire athletes who aren’t based in the city.”
SNP councillor for Inverurie and District, Bryan Stuart, added: “It appears that, in terms of capacity, this is probably what the area needs, given the population of Inverurie is two-and-a-half times what it was when the pool was built.
“It would give us a competition-standard, economic generator in the area.
“There is an overwhelming desire to see it happen, it is finding the money to do it. The benefits that would arrive from an eight-lane pool are overwhelming.”
