YORK, apparently, has a reputation for being a city of couch potatoes.

According to Miriam Jackson, of the York Sport And Leisure Campaign, this is "one of the least-exercising towns in the whole country".

For the sake of our health, it is vital that we get out and exercise more.

So it is excellent news that plans for a spanking new multi-million pound sports complex on the city's outskirts have been revived.

Our lethargy isn't entirely our own fault.

When the Barbican closed, we lost a city centre swimming pool and a host of other excellent sporting facilities at a stroke. That loss came hard on the heels of the closure of the old Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC) Club in Boroughbridge Road back in 2003. Hundreds of sportsmen and women were affected - many of them members of the public who had used the facilities for years.

It is the CSSC that wants to build the new sports complex at Clifton Moor, to replace the old Boroughbridge Road club.

It would include two football pitches, ten 5-a-side pitches, four tennis courts, a swimming pool and learner pool and a sports bar, plus much more.

As with the Boroughbridge Road club, the new sports complex would be mainly for civil servants - but would also be open to the public.

There has been a history of delay over this sports centre plan - including, at one point, opposition from the city council.

It feared the complex, behind ikon & Diva, would eat into green belt. Its objections were overturned by a planning inspector and permission granted.

After a further delay, the CSSC has come back with these revised plans.

Let us hope they can now be pushed through the planning process quickly.

These facilities are just what this city needs.