Some of the youngsters who will be affected by the track closure (Pic: Track Academy)
Guest post by Patrik Ewe, CEO, Track Academy
I am the CEO of Track Academy, a youth athletics, education and mentoing charity based at Willesden Sports Centre. We have been there since 2007. We use athletics to reach over 500 young people a year and then provide mentoring, tutoring, lifeskills and enrichment for them.
On Monday 9 November, the indoor athletics track at Willesden Sports Centre is due to be taken offline. It is the only indoor track of its kind in Brent. It is being converted into a gym.
This is not a story about a gym versus a running track. It is a story about who gets to be active, and who gets left behind.
What the council's own documents say
The council's Equality Impact Assessment admits the loss will adversely affect girls, disabled young people, young people with special educational needs and ethnically diverse communities. It admits that the sports hall, the only alternative on offer, is "not a like-for-like replacement". It admits Saturday provision is "unresolved".
We were not consulted before the Cabinet decision on 22nd June. We were shown a completed design on 9th June. The Equality Impact Assessment was published 24th October, four months after the decision. The law requires equality impacts to be considered before a decision is taken, not after it.
This contradicts the council's own Youth Strategy
Brent's Youth Strategy 2025-2028 commits the council to ensuring young people have a voice in decisions that affect them, and to expanding opportunities for positive activities and personal development. Removing this track, without consulting the young people who use it, contradicts both commitments.
Track Academy is not simply an athletics club. We provide mentoring, leadership opportunities, positive role models and a safe environment for hundreds of young people. The preventative value of that work does not appear to have been weighed in the decision at all. A Brent Youth Parliament survey stated that only 28% of young people feel they have enough safe spaces to socialise.
Why this matters for Brent
We serve young people from some of the most deprived wards in the borough. 64% are from low-income families. 58% are girls. 90% are from Black, Asian, mixed and other minoritised ethnic backgrounds. 29% have a disability or long-term health condition.
The indoor track is the reason many of them come. It is warm, it is safe and it is available in the winter when the outdoor track can be unusable. For girls in particular, it is a place where they feel comfortable being active. For disabled young people and those with special educational needs, it is a place where the environment is adapted to them. For young people with nowhere else to go after school, it is a place to be.
Take it away, and they do not simply train somewhere else. Many of them stop coming altogether.
The public response
Over 1,100 people have signed our petition, 809 of them from Brent. Over 224 residents have written to councillors. Over 290 young people, parents and supporters have shared their stories.
Here are just a few of them:
"My son is severely sight impaired, has complex medical needs and is autistic. There is no other track in close proximity that he can access. Losing this outlet would set us back." - Parent
"My two daughters train with Track Academy. They suffer from asthma, which is triggered by cold air. Having an indoor track means their training is continuous rather than stopping and starting due to the weather." - Parent
"Track is a place of safety to me. There's no pressure from school, and I'm staying active while having fun with friends." - Nyah, 12
"Given the recent killings of young people in Brent, I would have thought this would be something the council would be driving people towards, not watching it be pushed out." - Parent
What we are asking for
We are not asking the council to break contracts or change its plans. We are asking for a pause until a suitable, funded alternative is agreed in writing.
Our solicitors have written to the council formally. We would much rather resolve this without legal action.
What you can do
Sign the petition and email your councillor. It takes two minutes. The full picture, including the council's own assessment, is here: https://trackacademy.co.uk/protect-brent-athletics
Brent's young people deserve better. They deserve somewhere to do athletics whatever the weather. In a borough where young people have lost their lives to violence, they deserve not to lose one of the few safe spaces they have left.
Patrik
Ewe
CEO, Track Academy
