Boost for rink plan

A campaign for a permanent ice rink in Kidderminster is gathering pace with a task force set up to look into costs.

Councillors are to make January fact-finding visits to rinks in Cannock and Altrincham.

On the visits they will assess costs and look at the feasibility of installing an ice rink, whether permanent or seasonal, in Kidderminster.

The move follows an offer by Mark Johnson, managing director of The Ice Rink Company Limited, who is already behind a £1 million ice rink development due to open at Cannock Chase in January.

He believes the Kidderminster area could be the ideal place for an ice sports centre which could create up to 50 jobs.

His interest has been prompted by calls by Stourport schoolgirl Chloe Worley who wrote to Wyre Forest District councillor June Salter asking if the local authority would provide a rink because the nearest ones are at Telford, Solihull or even as far away as Coventry.

Currently there are only 36 rinks across the country and councillor Salter believes a rink could become a major attraction as the one at Telford attracted 254,000 visits last year.

She said: "A policy panel of members decided they could not afford officials time to check this out because of so many other schemes they are considering.

"I thought that this was unfair as 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for a rink. I promised Chloe and her mother that we would investigate the possibility of whether a rink could be build and do everything we could.

"We cannot let this opportunity go without proper investigations."

By Sue Smith