This is revealed in documents sent out to the Olympiatoppen on Tuesday, to which news has gained access. “The Planning and Building Agency rejects the application for a new top sports centre, athletics and football pitch and new ice hockey rink”, they write. – This is a stinging defeat for the Olympic summit and the Norwegian Sports Confederation, says news’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt. – We are naturally disappointed by the refusal from the Planning and Building Agency. We will now carefully read the refusal and the reasons, and go through this in the steering group, says top sports director Tore Øvrebø in an e-mail to news. Olympiatoppen has long wanted to build a new top sports center at Sognsvann in Oslo, and the plans have been changed several times in recent years. Among other things, they have had to shelve plans for an athlete hotel. At New Year’s, VG reported that the Norwegian Sports Confederation is applying for NOK 875 million for a new national top sports center with the goal of completion in 2025. – SWEDISH DEFEAT: This is how news’s expert commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt describes the rejection. Photo: ALEM ZEBIZ – The measure has major deviations They explained the new construction by saying that the current center was no longer up to scratch. According to the Olympiatoppen, the training conditions must be beyond criticism, and the capacity is blown. – A new center will be 11,600 square meters and include new outdoor facilities (stadium, ice surface, tennis courts, etc.), the Norwegian Sports Confederation wrote on its website back in 2020. That plan now receives a resounding no. “The measure has major deviations from the zoning plan, and is dependent on dispensations which, in the agency’s assessment, cannot be granted in a building case,” writes the Planning and Building Agency in its refusal. – A lot of prestige, money and attention has gone into building the new top sports centre. It is quite obvious, judging from the refusal, that not nearly as many resources have been put into fine-tuning the zoning plan for the area. The project has been rejected on all points, from size to location and design, says Saltvedt. Several clubs protested Almost all clubs in the district, most of them with bandy teams, have protested the development, which would have led to the construction of a scaled-down ice surface to replace a full court. The clubs believe this would lead to a reduced offer for children and young people. The Planning and Building Agency reacts to a lack of response to the issue from the Olympiatoppen. “As the agency understands the comments, a new and smaller ice rink will have significant consequences for Oslo Sports in the future, and at the same time provide a reduced offer for young athletes. The applicant and the owner of the measure indicate that a comprehensive balancing of interests has been carried out in this matter. The agency questions what is meant by an overall balancing of interests”. DISAPPOINTED: Tore Øvrebø says they are disappointed by the rejection. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB They add that they believe the remarks that the offer in Oslo sports will not be sufficient with a smaller ice surface have not been assessed or responded to. – Now the sport must either try to change the regulatory plan, which takes a lot of time and will meet a lot of local resistance, which the reactions to this project have already shown, or think completely new in terms of scope and perhaps also location, Saltvedt believes. It is currently unclear what will happen to the big plans. – We are happy that we feel that the plans for a new national top sports center have good support in the government, in the Ministry of Culture, among opposition parties, with the management at the Norwegian Sports Academy, in the special associations and with the sports board. These are important actors, who are clear that they want Norway to focus on top sport. It makes me optimistic in the belief that a new center will be built, writes Øvrebø in an e-mail to news.
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– A stinging defeat – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
