Community Stadium - A brief informal statement... : Thu Jul 27, 2017 9:40 am
A brief informal statement from me personally as Chair of the Wakefield & District Community Trust.At 9.30am on Thursday 27th July, I understand that Sir Rodney Walker and his yet unknown colleagues, are meeting at the offices of Chadwick Lawrence. I can also confirm that as of this time no new Trust company with Sir Rodney as a Director/Trustee is showing as been registered with either Companies House or the Charity Commission.
I was invited to attend said meeting by Sir Rodney but last night called him and left a message declining and offering both my apologies and an explanation as to why I would not be attending. I have previously been very clear that I would not let anyone or anything get in the way of seeing a community stadium built and that anyone who feels that they can offer help and assistance in doing so would be welcome to work with and potential be invited to join (or rejoin) this Trust. This is still unequivocally the case.
In light of Cllr Peter Box comments in the council chamber yesterday and the comments he made in last weeks press release following our meeting, he has made it very clear that it is this Trust, The Wakefield and District Community Trust, that he wishes the council and developer to work with to hopefully (and finally) facilitate and deliver a community stadium. He has expressed a further wish that everyone should come together and work towards this common objective and I wholeheartedly agree with those sentiments.
As such, I have once again invited Sir Rodney to rejoin this Trust and also made it clear that we would consider any new Trustees he wished to propose and whom he felt may be able to also work towards this shared objective.
It is now clear that Sir Rodney (and his unknown colleagues) have two clear choices, he (they) can decide to accept our offer to work and join with us or, if not, they should quite simply walk away and allow this Trust to continue in its unswerving and unabashed attempts to deliver the community stadium the citizens of Wakefield were promised.
If we don't hear from Sir Rodney (and his colleagues) before close of business on Friday 28th July, accepting our invitation, then we will have to assume that they have decided on another course of action.
We hope they either decide to work with us or walk away and allow this Trust to continue to move forward. Any other course of action is clearly no longer helping or helpful.
The Trustees and I are determined as ever to see a community stadium delivered to the wonderful and deserving people of the City of Wakefield and we remain mandated, privileged and committed to do so.
Jonathan Stone
