As reported in the Tele (14.3.09), I had raised my "bitter disappointment" regarding Parklea playing pitches in Port Glasgow being treated as medium priority by the Labour/Tory administration at the recent Regeneration committee meeting.

At that meeting, while accepting the reasons put forward by council officials that further investigations are required at Parklea regarding the drainage problems there following a survey of the district's pitches, I did point out that these problems were hardly new. In fact I have been told by one former employee of the council that the drainage problems at Parklea may go back as far as 30 years!

That being the case it further highlights the fact that successive Labour and Liberal administrations have failed to tackle the drainage problems at Parklea over many years.

The Regeneration convener Cllr Clocherty said that the pitches at Parklea will be the centre piece for football in Inverclyde. If that is the case then why has successive Labour councils not sorted out the centre piece for football in the district a long time before now?

Sadly for many years now local football teams have had to call league matches off, sometimes at very late notice, at times having to incur the cost of match officials who have arrived only to call the game off. At the same time visiting teams have also incurred the cost of travel only to head back home having not played the match. I have also received complaints from some teams that conditions can be so bad that they have had to play their "home games" in places like Paisley and Linwood! Just imagine if Morton had to play their home games in Paisley.

Of course all councillors welcome the decision reached last year that the council will invest £23 million on new and refurbished sports facilities and pitches over the next few years. Upgrading the district's facilities was something the SNP committed ourselves to in our manifesto in the 2007 council elections.

Finally, many people may remember the waterfall that ran over the rock face as you drove into Port Glasgow. At night this was made picturesque by the lights set against the rock face. However, since the new housing estate at Castlebank was built the waterfall disappeared. We must ask where it went. Where was the water diverted to? And has this had any effect on the drainage at Parklea, on either the pitches or the nearby bowling green (which I am told appears to be largely unplayable on)? I would hope that once the drainage problems are sorted at the pitches at Parklea that something can also be done in relation to the bowling green.