Bristol & West AC's hopes of establishing themselves as a top track and field club on the national stage have been dealt another blow with the decision of pole vaulter Cameron Walker-Shepherd to quit the club.

The 17-year-old Great Britain junior international, who this summer won the English Schools' senior boys' title and made his overseas debut in the European Youth Olympics, has opted to switch to top Birmingham club Birchfield Harriers.

Walker-Shepherd said he had taken the decision reluctantly, but the lack of adequate training facilities in the city and the detrimental impact that has had on the club's ambition to compete on the national stage means he needs to go elsewhere to further his personal ambitions of establishing himself as one of Britain's top senior pole vaulters.

"The main reason I'm going is to get a better standard of competition," he said. "Competing in the Midland League for Bristol, I sometimes have to wait two hours before starting to jump whereas in the British League I'll be able to come in straightaway.

"I wasn't an easy decision to make as I have been a member of Bristol & West since I was a 10-year-old but I have to move on."

Walker-Shepherd has already suffered from the lack of adequate training facilities in the city, forced to travel to Bath University five times a week to use their pole vaulting facilities – indoors and out .

"Vandals burnt the pole vaulting bed at Whitchurch and put a javelin through it so there are no pole vaulting facilities at all there," he said.

"They even put broken glass in the long jump pit so you can't use that either. My dad wrote to our local MP quite a few times and sent emails but nothing has happened to improve Whitchurch so that's why I have to go over to Bath. It is a shame because I would have liked to stay."

Bristol won the Midland League Division One this summer and would be eligible to contest the qualifying match to join the British League but chairman Mike Down said that would not happen.

"We cannot entertain taking up our place in the British League due to the lack of facilities in the city," he said. "We simply cannot host a British League fixture and won't do until we get the facilities that a city of this size deserves and which we have been promised by council officers.

"Until then we cannot make progress as a club and our top young athletes will continue to move elsewhere to fulfil their ambitions and we will continue to struggle to attract new local talent to the club."

● World Masters champion Derek Morgan is in the Avon squad for the South West Inter Counties Championships at the Exeter Arena on Sunday.

The 40-year-old has just returned from Finland where he won the 100 metres and is looking to break 11 seconds before the end of the season.

Newly-crowned England Athletics Under-15s pole vault champion Lucy Bryan, aged just 14, has been named for both her main event and the high jump.

● The final British Milers' Club meeting in the south west will be held next Tuesday at the Exeter Arena with the 800m being the feature race of the night. For entry details log onto the website at: www.britishmilersclub.com