Reporting by Emma Draper

Two MHKs for Douglas South are calling for changing rooms at the Spring Valley playing fields to be refurbished.

Claire Christian and Sarah Maltby say they have requested a meeting with Douglas Council to put a plan in place for the changing rooms.

After eight years, the local authority has outlined options such as asking teams to merge and creating new pitches at Noble’s Park to speed the project along.

Mrs Christian says she has been working with local sports clubs to try and find a resolution. She said: ‘I was first contacted back then and I went round to the facility, which isn't there now, to see what it was like.

‘More recently, in December, I contacted the football clubs and asked them what was going on, as nothing had happened in that time. They informed me that tenders were going out and that they didn’t need our help, but they would get back to us if they did.

‘They contacted us a couple of weeks ago to come and have a look at the facilities and we’ve organised a meeting with Douglas City Council. Hopefully we'll be able to get all the stakeholders around the table to discuss it and get some sort of action plan and timescale together.’

When Douglas Council met in February, it rejected tenders for the development due to the cost being too high and agreed its top priority was to ‘investigate modular buildings’.

Chair of the Regeneration and Community Committee, Andrew Bentley, said during the meeting the local authority has been working to resolve the issue.