Statement from Wakefield & District Community Trust : Tue Jun 27, 2017 6:43 pm
Statement from Wakefield & District Community Trust - 27th June 2017Wakefield Trinity (the Club) issued a statement last night regarding the ongoing saga of the non-delivery of the Community Stadium that was promised to the people of Wakefield at the Public Inquiry almost 5 years ago. The Trust was aware of the statement and is 100% behind the Club on this.
In February 2017 Sir Rodney Walker resigned his position as Chairman and Director of the Trust and informed the remaining Directors that he was intending on setting up his own Trust to deliver the stadium much to the surprise and dismay of the remaining 7 Board Members.
Since Sir Rodney’s resignation, under the new Chairmanship of Jonathan Stone, all the remaining Trustees have continued to work with the council and the developer to try and reach a solution to this ongoing issue. The trust were therefore delighted when, at a recent Council meeting, Cllr Peter Box announced that agreement had been reached with the developer and that a new multi-party Section 106 planning agreement was to be drawn up and lodged.
On the 26th May, Jonathan Stone and Chris Brereton met with Colin Mackie at Yorkcourt’s offices to start work on and agree the Heads of Terms agreement, that would form the basis upon which the new Section 106 would be based. It was a very friendly and extremely positive meeting. The principals of the new deal were agreed and both the Trust and the Developer felt that a new 10,000 (approx.) capacity stadium could be built and delivered at Newmarket, given no unexpected or uncontrollable issues, for the start of the 2019 Rugby League Super League season. It should be noted that the ‘deal’ that was agreed at this meeting appears to be almost identical to the one that Sir Rodney Walker is now stating in the media he wishes to deliver under the auspices of his new Trust!
Furthermore the Trust was informed prior to an all parties meeting on 16th June with the Council and Yorkcourt (the Developer) that Yorkcourt had informed the Council that they wished only to work with Sir Rodney’s new Trust (the first time we had heard anything about Sir Rodney setting up a new Trust since February). He would not be attending our scheduled meeting, which was supposed to continue to discuss the new multi-party agreement that he had promised to the Council, and seemingly also reached agreement on, with the Trust.
There was a further meeting with the Council yesterday which was attended by Michael Carter, Chris Brereton, the Chairman of the Trust Jonathan Stone and Ian Bramley. The Leader of Wakefield MDC, Cllr Peter Box also attended the meeting.
The Council indicated that their preference was to continue to work with the original Trust but as they had a request from Yorkcourt to switch to Sir Rodney’s new Trust they had to seek legal advice on their position and whilst we cannot see how a Developer can dictate terms to the Council as Planning Authority we understand and accept the Council’s position and await the outcome of that legal advice which is expected very shortly. The Trust is also clearly taking advice on this matter from its own Lawyer.
The Council confirmed that they were continuing to work on the Heads of Terms that will form the basis of the new multi-party Section 106 Agreement in order to hit the deadline that the Club faces at the end of July 2017 to satisfy requirements laid down by the Rugby Football League. Unfortunately as those discussions are with Yorkcourt they will (so far) not allow those terms to be shown to this Trust.
We think therefore that we should place on record the basic terms that the Trust require in order that we can reach agreement on the new Section 106 Agreement.
In the original Unilateral Undertaking following the Public Inquiry the stadium was to be built by Yorkcourt and then passed to the Trust on a 99 year lease for a peppercorn. The Trust would then agree terms with the Club to be anchor tenant. The Trust has draft copies of the proposed heads of terms that were drawn up back at that time, and they indicate similar terms to what we are continuing to propose.
It was the intention of the Trust, although not formally approved, rather than establishing an expensive Management Company, to sub-lease the stadium to the Club on a 99 year lease for a rent to be agreed. The stadium would be let to the Club on a FRI (Fully Repairing & Insuring) lease where the Club would have all responsibility for maintenance, repairs etc. However in turn they would be able to retain all income the stadium would generate in order to make the Club sustainable and allow it to compete in Super League. There would be conditions in the lease that ensure that the stadium would be made available for community use and future sub-let use by another sporting club, such as an Association Football Club or Rugby Football Union Club.
If the proposed Heads of Terms differ from this, or under guidance from the Trusts lawyers are not acceptable for any other genuine moral or legal reason, then they will not be acceptable to the Trust and the Club.
There is no reason whatsoever why the terms should differ. Peter Box said recently in the Council Chamber that Yorkcourt had agreed to a new Section 106 Agreement and referred to the Section 106 Agreement that would deliver a new stadium for Castleford Tigers at Glasshoughton which the Council had negotiated. He said the agreement that would deliver the Castleford stadium had been referred to as “perfect” and he intended negotiating a similar “perfect” agreement for the Trust and the Club. The agreement is indeed “perfect” and we commend the Council on their negotiations and are confident that they will indeed produce another “perfect” agreement now that they have the opportunity.
It was suggested at yesterday’s meeting with the Council that the issue Yorkcourt have with this Trust is that they find working with Chris Brereton and Michael Carter difficult. They then offered, at this meeting, to step down from the Trust subject to new Section 106 agreement being agreed by the end of July, that would see a stadium delivered for 2019. Whilst we find it hard to accept that the issue is simply about Chris and Michael, and we would wish them to continue on the Trust, if they believe their resignation would help the situation and deliver a stadium we would, with reluctance, accept their resignations.
In a further act of reconciliation it was suggested and agreed by the Council that we should invite Sir Rodney to re-join the original Trust, and also consider any new Trustees he might have recruited to his new Trust, removing the need for Sir Rodney to form this new Trust and he would again be able to work with all Trustee to deliver the stadium. Jonathan met with Sir Rodney last night and had a frank, forthright but friendly discussion and invited Sir Rodney to re-join the Trust. He did not accept the invitation, but he did say he would consider a merging of the two Trusts. Jonathan agreed that we would be willing to consider a merger (with the support of all the other Trustees), as Yorkcourt had indicated that they only wished to work with Sir Rodney’s Trust at this time, and that Chris and Michael were the sticking point (but had also now offered to resign from the Trust), but on the condition Sir Rodney could indeed deliver a deal by the end of July as he promised to Jonathan and the public of Wakefield, in the media.
Jonathan commented following their meeting “The stated aim of this Trust, started by Sir Rodney and Wakefield Council, is to see the delivery of a Community Stadium for the citizens of Wakefield and provide a new modern facility for the city’s only professional sports team, Wakefield Trinity. The Trustees, the Club and many other people have worked tirelessly for almost two decades to see this come to fruition, I would not wish anything or anyone to get in the way or hinder the delivery of a Community stadium facility. Sir Rodney Walker has assured me that he feels that he can work with the developer and finally deliver what was promised. I expressed my personal scepticism (and that of all the Trustees and the Club) about his and the developers ability and desire to do so, given he had been unable to achieve this while Chairman of the Trust for 7 years and had walked away from the Trust he started. As of yet, neither Sir Rodney or the Developer has clearly stated their actual reasons, to me, for not being willing to continue to work with this Trust on what appears an almost identical deal to the one that we agreed on, only a few short weeks ago. However, I am willing to give Sir Rodney and Yorkcourt every opportunity to deliver the stadium they originally proposed and promised to the citizens of Wakefield.”
We look forward to receiving a copy of the proposed draft Heads of Terms within the next couple of weeks, to allow the Trust, the Club and our Lawyers time to give their input, so that a satisfactory deal can be put in place, as promised by Sir Rodney, by the end of July.
