On December 17th, the Manor House's Gavin Harris posted on Facebook about the Rhuthun/Ruthin velodrome. He noted that it was 'a pivotal week' for the project. He reminded us that Sports Wales and Welsh Cycling had agreed to fund £2.3m for the project. All that was required was 10 per cent funding locally. He continued, 'Decision makers need to rise to the moment and make their choice'.
Does cycling in Rhuthun face an uphill struggle?
The Facebook post was removed. Does that signal bad news? Have the decision makers made their choice but Not In A Good Way?
Denbighshire will not fund the 10 per cent. Speculation is that if they cannot afford to keep libraries open then they probably cannot afford to fund even 10 per cent of a velodrome. There may be other sources of funding such as the town council itself. If so, that means you and me funding a local project with regional significance.
Ysgol Brynhyfryd's governors are rumoured to have turned against the proposal but we don't yet know whether they are for or agin. If they are now opposed, this could be the end of the project, for it was supposed to be on their land.
Most, probably all, comments made by the public on Gavin Harris's Facebook post were positive about the velodrome.
There was no hiding his ire. He said, 'Rhyl gets multi-millions every year, one after another, same massive money repeating same mistakes. Since 1990s efforts to create a family friendly resort, same bad results.'
Much more worrying, perhaps, is the impact of inflation within construction that resulted in the need for the velodrome's 10 per cent funding. As Mr Harris put it before deletion, 'It is likely [the] same inflationary pressures will impact Levelling Up ambitions, as the value of each pound granted stretches less.' And that could mean a much poorer scheme in the town centre than first envisaged.