The future plans of Bermuda's sporting governing bodies have been left in limbo after the shock news that Glenn Blakeney has replaced El James as Sports Minister.

Questions marks now hang over the numerous multi-million dollar projects James had unveiled in recent months including; a sports complex at White Hill Field, mini-centres of excellence at Cooper's Island, and a promise to finally start construction on the long-awaited 50-metre swimming pool at the National Sports Centre.

Blakeney, father of national team cricketer Glenn Blakeney, became the third Sports Minister in less than a year yesterday and Bermuda Track and Field Association (BTFA) spokeswoman Donna Watson is concerned the lack of continuity could be detrimental to the development of athletics.

Watson said James' surprise departure could have a "huge impact" on the proposals the BTFA presented to the former international pace bowler just a few months ago.

"I'm under the impression we will be hugely impacted," said ex-track star Watson. "We'd met with Minister James previously and presented him with our proposals as to the plans we had for our sport.

"No one knows what the transition will be like between Minister James and Mr. Blakeney and whether we will have to re-present our plans - we are waiting to see what happens.

"I don't know what Mr. Blakeney's experience is in sport but most of the time whenever a Minister has been involved in a sport before they tend to put their focus that way, so it will be interesting to see what he does. The most we know is that his son plays cricket, but in general I'm shocked."

Despite Government asking all departments to slash millions of dollars of initiatives amid a global economic crisis, James had remained confident he could cut more than ten percent from sport's budget and still fund the raft of new proposals.

And Watson said the BTFA would be watching with renewed interest to see how much each governing body received in the upcoming sport budget.

"Only last week Minister James said he was going to make his announcement on the budget and who was getting what, so we don't know how this will be impacted."

Back in September outgoing Sports Minister James called for 'drastic changes' in Track and Field to help Bermuda produce more world-class athletes.

He said he was concerned just a dozen athletes represented the Island at the Beijing Olympics and that Bermuda's two track and field representatives – long jumpers Arantxa King and Tyrone Smith – did not even come through the local system.

He urged the BTFA to get its house in order as he plotted sweeping changes to the way the Bermuda developed and nurtured its athletes.

Among the changes he vowed to make was a complete overhaul of the Elite Athletes Programme, the introduction of 'Centres of Excellence' for the Island's top young sports talent and more funds freed up to aid promising athletes at the development stage.

He also planned a review of how the clubs, the BTFA and the national squad co-operate.

Watson added: "I don't know if all the information the Minister had will be passed on or whether we have to give it to Mr. Blakeney ourselves.

"But of course some of the things we propose do require funding so depending on how this goes we will have to play a bit of checkers and chess to see what we can move around and what we can't do.

"The fact that there is a recession could affect the funding we get also.

"I hope our plans won't be put off and we can meet with him soon."

Neither the Bermuda Football Association nor Bermuda Cricket Board, which currently recieve millions of dollars of Government funding, wished to comment on yesterday's dramatic turn of events.