Sandal Cat wrote:
Because as I see it its not fully funded by the developer. The developer in return for planning consent for the whole development would put a significant sum into the Community Stadium. The Community Trust would be able to access funding from the Sports Council etc. and with the land placed into the Trust be able to borrow sufficient to be able to build the Stadium. Hence the comments that the Stadium is fully funded and requires no funding from the Council.
On the other hand Glasshoughton is nowhere near having the required funding in place. Wheldon Road cannot be sold because of the blast zone and it is not even zoned for housing yet although that will come. The land is available via Waystone and there is talk of Surfworld contributing to one stand but how definite this is I have no idea. It seems to me that all Castleford have is the ability to borrow money against the land that the Council would put forward which is no where near the £15m or so that will be required.
So we have a Community Stadium proposed for Newmarket that does not have a planning consent but has funding and we have a proposed stadium which will be owned by Castleford Tigers that has outline consent but insufficient funding. Being a private venture it cannot access the same funding that a Community Trust can. It will only work if the funding the developer was to put into Newmarket is chanelled into Glasshoughton.
So bit of a conundrum. Bring both together and you have the answer a Community Stadium at either Newmarket or Glasshoughton and there lies the problem. There is no way on this earth that there will be 2 Stadiums 6 miles appart - there will be one and possibly none.
Where should the Stadium be. Its too late to look at somewhere like Normanton so its Newmarket or Glasshoughton.
Glasshoughton is a great location but only for Castleford. If we groundshare there it will be the death of Wakefield Trinity. How can a business grow when it plays in an area with an already established Club.
Castleford fans wont accept Newmarket as they perceive it to be Wakefield despite it being equidistant from Castleford Town Centre and Wakefield City Centre. The planning issue can be overcome with the support of the Council but only if they give it their full support.
The Council will push for a groundshare and in my opinion that will be at Glasshoughton. Politicians generally do things that please their voters so its an easy political decision. Wakefield will oppose and continue to push Newmarket which without Council support will fail.
So what will be the end result ? I wish I knew but I certainly fear for the future of Wakefield Trinity and possibly Castleford. We could both end up in the NL and some would accept this rather than give in.
There needs to be some serious talking and the M word will undoubtably be mentioned which may be an option although unpalatable for some but it may be the only way to keep Super League in the Wakefield District.
Dont think i am against wake and a stadium, but the problem you have got is that the council has to follow these guidelines
Under the Town and Country Planning Acts there is a presumption in favour of development. However within the Green Belt this situation is reversed and there is a general presumption against inappropriate development. Such development should not be approved, except in very special circumstances.
Inappropriate development is by definition harmful to the Green Belt. Very special circumstances will not exist unless the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm to the Green Belt, is clearly outweighed by other considerations. This is a tough test and it is for the applicant to show why permission should be granted. Whilst it is for the local planning authority to judge the special circumstances being put forward it would be unreasonable to give weight to a matter which national policy is unlikely to view as a very special circumstance. For example the fact that something can or cannot be seen should not be a determining factor. Planning applications for inappropriate development will, therefore, by their very nature, conflict with the development plan and
if the Council wishes to grant permission the proposal must be treated as a departure from the development plan and referred to the Secretary of State.That will cost a small fortune, believe me, and i has to be bourne by the developer in the first instance, they may get recompensed if the enquirery is sucessful, but its not always that way, Ive been involved pesonally with one of these and it is a long drawn out issue,
