A DECISION on the potential closure of Grimsby's ice rink is likely to be made "within a fortnight".
It comes after Councillor Mick Burnett, portfolio holder for culture and sport at North East Lincolnshire Council, was grilled by angry residents at a public meeting.
Organised by Terry Tidswell, chairman of the Grimsby Ice Hockey Club, the question and answer session was attended by a number of residents and users of the facility outside the Grimsby Leisure Centre.
There he admitted that the closure of the ice rink on June 6 was due to a hole in a pipe which had been there for "a long, long time."
He confirmed that the council is looking at a number of options, including closing the rink altogether but a decision won't be made for a couple of weeks.
Councillor Burnett said: "We are now looking into the best way to get the rink back into action and to get the best value for money.
"I can assure you it is a priority and it is important to both me and my colleagues. We want to have an ice rink in the borough and we are very proud of our leisure facilities.
"But we did not anticipate failure of this scale.
"Just to make it clear, we will use every penny we can to get the ice rink prepared.
"I will guarantee that we will look at it if someone comes to us approved and can offer us their work at a reasonable price."
Users of the facility have become frustrated and are worried the facility will never reopen – something he admitted was a possibility, but not the council's preferred option. As reported, North East Lincolnshire Council told the Grimsby Telegraph that it is considering all options – due to the age of the Cromwell Road site and the fact that a new £8.4 million leisure centre is planned, which does not include an ice rink.
From January 2015, the cooling system will also become obsolete due to new European legislation.
An online petition has been launched by former ice hockey player Alex Walsh, from Waltham, and a Facebook page has also been set up by Chris Curtis, a game co-ordinator for Grimsby Ice Bears.
Both have garnered significant support in the past few days.
A further petition, launched in 2009, gained more than 32,000 signatures. Victoria Ayling, UKIPs candidate for the Great Grimsby seat, also vented her anger at Monday night's public meeting.
Talking afterwards, she said: "I feel the ice rink has been utterly neglected and it is absolutely outrageous what has happened to it.
"The council chooses to follow EU directives when they don't have to. He didn't answer a number of questions and the council are just making excuses. They can't guarantee anything.
"I am totally behind Terry's campaign and I think it would be a great loss to Great Grimsby if the rink was to close.
When asked what the sports clubs should do in the meantime without their facilities, Councillor Burnett said there was "not a lot they can do".
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