Message from local MP Sadiq Khan

Thank you for your support for our campaign to keep Tooting Bec Athletics Track running.

In just 10 days our petition now has well over 1,000 signatures, and on Sunday you turned up in your hundreds for our campaign photo – which you can read more about here. We’ve also seen TV and Radio presenter Nicky Campbell and Olympic athlete Jade Johnson get behind the campaign too!

Building on this momentum, we’ve arranged an urgent public meeting for THIS Wednesday. The meeting is taking place at St. Paul’s Church on Welham Road, SW16, and starts at 7:30pm. I’ll be there along with local councillors, members of staff from the track, a representative from Wandsworth Council, the Herne Hill Harriers, and other interested organisations and individuals.

This is our chance to formulate a response that we can then pass on to the council, and will also help us to get more information on what options the council are considering and what efforts are being made to safeguard the future of the track.

I hope to see you there! As someone who has demonstrated their support for the track, it would be fantastic if you could join us and help demonstrate the level of support for protecting the track.

If you can’t make it, you can still help by spreading the word to your friends and neighbours and please keep sharing the petition. If you’re on Twitter, remember to use the hashtag #Keepthetrackrunning and mention @SadiqKhan so I can retweet you.

Best wishes,
Sadiq Khan

UPDATE – 12 NOV

Good afternoon,

Thank you once again for your support for the campaign to #KeepTheTrackRunning.

As you will be aware – the purpose of tonight was to allow us to get more information about the future of our track from Wandsworth Council – and to be able to put our questions to council officers. I am disappointed however to report that despite the best efforts of our local councillors, it now appears unlikely that a senior representative from the council will be attending, and we won’t get the answers we had hoped for.

I am sure you will share our frustrations that despite so many people having now signed the petition, hundreds of whom have expressed an interest in attending the meeting, is seems the council does not deem the issue important enough to send a senior representative along.

The council have however provided us with a statement today, setting out their position which is partially welcome but will need further exploration. So there will still be a meeting at St Paul’s Church, Welham Road tonight, at 7:30pm, albeit it on a much smaller scale and lasting no more than an hour, at most. All are welcome – yet please be assured that we will keep you updated on the outcome via email if you are unable to make it.

Thank you for your ongoing support, and please do continue to support the campaign on social media and ask your family and friends to do so also!

Best wishes,
Sadiq (@sadiqkhan)