Dacorum Borough Council accused of snubbing Hemel basketball coach following court refurbishment

A basketball coach who campaigned for the Northridge Way court to be renovated says Dacorum Borough Council repeatedly missed him out from coverage of the opening.

Hemel Sharks community basketball club founder Ken Corbin had pushed for the court redevelopment for nearly 12 years and was approached by Whitton Electrical when the company wanted to invest in the community.

But he was dismayed that the winter edition of the council’s Dacorum Life magazine made no mention of him as the campaigner and instigator of the redevelopment.

Ken said: “I am truly dismayed that in a time where ethnically diverse role models and community champions are so important, they failed to mention me or the club. They seem more focused on their own propaganda."

A DBC spokesperson said: “In May 2022, we opened the refurbished Northridge Way Basketball Court, funded by the Council and sponsorship from Hemel Hempstead firm Whitton Electrical. At the time of opening, we thanked all those involved in the project, including community coaches, Ken Corbin and Adrian Marioghae, extensively across our communication channels and at the opening event.”

They added: “The short article in our print version of Dacorum Life, winter edition, publicised the facility of Northridge Way Basketball Court and does not list all those involved in its development earlier this year, however, we would like to reiterate our thanks to everyone involved in this project, including Ken Corbin.”

But this was a repeat scenario as neither of the media releases from the council about the refurbishment mentioned Ken. He said: “I had to chase that up for correction too.”