Club to fill in hole over safety fears

St Michael’s Cricket Club took the action at their pitch off Kingholm Road after being made aware of concern and frustration around a hole created back in 2014 for construction of a storage shed.
A spokesman for the club said: “We’re just going to fill it in now and not bother building the shed.”
The spokesman said work began in October 2014 but says plans to take forward construction of the shed were hit by winter floods in 2014 and 2015, describing that as ‘a huge drain on our resources’.
Priority then instead shifted to repairs of lawn mowers and equipment.
And the spokesman said: “We’ve now come to the bit where we’re saying to ourselves, ‘Realistically, can we start it, and can we finish it?'”
But after a meeting on Monday evening where the spokesman said concern about the hole from nearby residents was communicated for the first time, despite bi-monthly meetings, he said: “What we’re saying is, we’ll fill it in, and when we have the money there we’ll divert that to keep all the apparatus going.”
Local residents say they have had concerns about the safety of the site.
Claiming the issue has been raised in the past, one said: “I’ve said that somebody’s going to fall in there and break their leg.
“Or worst case scenario, a kid might fall in there and drown — because during the winter it’s full of water.”
He added: “You can’t just go and dig foundations and then leave the thing open for years on end.”
Frustration was also voiced over a container on site, but the club have removed that before the termination of permission at the end of April.
Welcoming the outcome, departing Nith Ward councillor Jack Groom said: “I think word has got to them, and they’ve realised that they’ve got to have this done.”
He added: “It’s a welcome development for the people of Kingholm and Castledykes.”