Outdoor sports venues to open when safe

Sports groups and clubs in South Lanarkshire may have to wait a little longer before outdoor sports venues will be back up and running.

South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture (SLLC) are set to phase in venues when it is safe to open them after new restrictions on training for grassroots sport were relaxed.

Guidance from the Scottish FA to reflect the transition to phase three of the Scottish Government’s route map will allow contact training for children and young people aged from five to 17 in groups of up to 10 with no more than two coaches.

Clubs will have to keep attendance records while coaches must remain physically distanced from players.

Adults will also be able to train in groups of up to 15 people - players and coaches - from no more than five households but physical distancing will need to be maintained. Teams with no players or coaches from the same household will need to train in groups of no more than five people.

David Booth, SLLC general manager, said:“we are looking forward to welcoming customers back to our fantastic facilities, and I can confirm that we are working on plans in line with Scottish Government guidance that will allow for the reopening of our outdoor sports facilities.

“This will happen as soon as it is considered safe to do so and we are in a position to staff and manage each facility appropriately. This is likely to happen on a phased basis and we will publicise reopening details of each facility as soon as these are available.

“Due to ongoing restrictions caused by the response to Covid-19 it is anticipated that when facilities do reopen they initially will be subject to some changes from normal arrangements. Again, we will make sure that service users are well aware of any such changes in advance of accessing facilities.”

No dates have been set for reopening SLLC’S outdoor facilities.