Quote: rhino phil "This will backfire. Any support will be seen as being blindly provided because the club begged its support base rather than on the developments meit. I suspect the council will take a dim view and it could do more harm than good.'"
Nonsense.
If the club's supporters don't back the application the council would definitely be able to point to that as being a reason not to approve the applications.
All the local people opposing the application would have nowhere to live themselves if those who lived in their locality before their houses were built had objected.
Whatever we think the council should & will determine the applications based on planning criteria.