Resolution J:Members of the society believe that retaining the Racecourse as a 15,000 capacity International Standard Stadium is a priority for the club and the town of Wrexham and call on the Wrexham Maelor Borough Council to ensure that this becomes a reality by ensuring that funding is in place to build the new Kop stand prior to granting detailed planning permission for the development behind the Kop.
Outline planning consent was granted for the development last May and the clauses relating to the granting of detailed consent were made at that time.
At the WST members meeting on August 14th 2006 Mr Dickens stated that the new Kop would have a capacity of 15500.
Vision 2012 was launched on December 1rst 2006 and that gave indicative drawings of the new Kop.
The then, Culture Minister, Alun Pugh, made encouraging noises about the new stand and in meetings with the WST board made clear his support for the project.
At the WST members meeting on April 30th Chairman Bruce Clapton stated.
The proposed 5,000 seat stand would only be built if funding from The Football Foundation and The Welsh Assembly was forthcoming, the projected cost of build would be £3m to 4m. If the grant money was not provided, a smaller 2,000 seat stand would be built. Bruce said that he did not wish to see the capacity of The Racecourse reduced, but we had to be realistic here and keep pushing for grant assistance.
We think it worrying that there is already a proposal to downsize the new Kop BEFORE any grant funding has even been applied for.
There has been no progress with obtaining funding for the new Kop since the Vision 2012 document was launched in 2006.
No plans have been revealed, no funding applications have been made and the message that is now being forwarded is that we have to be “practical†and lower our expectations. This is astonishing given that the funding process has yet to start.
When detailed planning consent is granted for the development the developers will pay the club £3.6m.The club will then pay off the loans secured on the ground and in effect become debt free.
The value of the land that the club retains would be in excess of £9m and unless the council ensure that funding is in place before granting planning permission then the owners of the football club would be under no obligation to provide a new stand on the Kop.
In fact it may not be in their financial interest to build a new stand because of the various strings that can be attached to grants of public money.
The WST needs to be pro active in supporting the clubs future prospects. Work needs to be done on raising funding for the new Kop so that we are not left with a three sided ground for years.
The Council are handling the business plan for assembly funding on behalf of the club and have offered the WST a role in this. This offer has not yet been taken up but we feel it is crucial that the WST is involved in all aspects of this project.
Obviously the WST cannot force this issue with either the club or the council but collectively we do have a voice and we need to state publicly what we expect.
The council is in a unique position to influence the future of the club and should use that influence to ensure that their, and our, publicly stated aspirations are met in full.
5 comments:
This looks different to what I read elsewhere. Is the fresh approach group still suggesting that the council hold the club owners to ransome by witholding PP and strips of council owned land? If so will such a tactic delay the development to an extent that the club is put at risk?
are you suggesting that the club holds the local authority to ransom by threatening that it will fold if the authority doesnt relax the planning order?
A fair point, as you know I'm no die hard N&G fan and I'm glad that the council have ensured that they have some power over things including the kop development. However, is it wise to lobby the council to withold PP etc with regards to the kop development? Will it put the owners in a difficult situation financially and delay the development (possibly longer than it would currently take to get the new stand started)to a point where the club suffers?
essentially the council will have to decide what level of comittment they need to see before granting detailed planning.
remember there is already a great deal of public investment in the project due to the relaxing of social housing provisions and the refusal to take advantage of the ransom strip benefits.the councils only interest in the club is ensuring that the stadium remains at international standard.they cannot settle for less or they will in effect be putting money into a football club.
if detailed planning is granted without any stipulations re the kop then there is no obligation on the club to build the stand.
in fact it would be detrimental to their financial interests,short and long term.are our interests as fans in line with the owners interests in this?
so,to answer your question, i think that i,as a fan,would be prepared to put up with a bit more pain for the sake of the longer term benefits.
the club folding nonsense is jusst scaremongering and should be seen as what it is.
essentially the council will have to decide what level of comittment they need to see before granting detailed planning.
remember there is already a great deal of public investment in the project due to the relaxing of social housing provisions and the refusal to take advantage of the ransom strip benefits.
the councils only interest in the club is ensuring that the stadium remains at international standard.
they cannot settle for less or they will in effect be putting money into a football club.
if detailed planning is granted without any stipulations re the kop then there is no obligation on the club to build the stand.
in fact it would be detrimental to their financial interests,short and long term.are our interests as fans in line with the owners interests in this?
so,to answer your question, i think that i,as a fan,would be prepared to put up with a bit more pain for the sake of the longer term benefits.
the club folding nonsense is just scaremongering and should be seen as what it is.
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