Quote RDM="RDM"So what is the club's and/or Trust's "plan A" for attempting to resolve this mess (of Yorkcourt & Box's making)? I thought this was the whole point of the meeting, but the forum & Twitter updates seemed to end after the "how we got here" bit had been outlined. (Before anyone says "you should have come if you were so bothered", it's a bit awkward when living & working in London!)
Are we really paying rent of £250k each year, or is this the full cost to the club for renting, maintaining & running the ground? If it's the former I'd suggest that we're being royally ripped off and someone should be instructing a revaluation asap so that the lease can be renegotiated. The latter seems to make a little more sense (particularly given the increased maintenance the older structures will need).
So Yorkcourt have made a "conditional offer" of a smaller ground (which sounds like it would suit our initial needs) but what are the "conditions"?
What happened to the Sport England covenant on the ground that stipulated that it must be available to the club unless the club has somewhere else to move to?
Last, but by no means least, thanks to TRB, SWAG, WTST and all others involved for their continued efforts in trying to get the resolution the club deserves.'"
To try and answer your points.
The rent on Belle Vue is £120,000 pa, the £250,000 is the cost of playing at Belle Vue, rates, utilities, insurance etc.
Yorkcourt did not make an offer of a smaller ground, that was made by the Stadium Trust on a "without predjudice" basis in an attempt to reach a resolution and demonstrate that the Trust has acted reasonably. It was not accepted so we are no further forward.
Not wishing to be picky but there is no covenant on the ground it is a planning condition on the consent for housing on Belle Vue. I could give a detailed explanation as to how that came about but it would bore people to death. There is a condition that states that no development on the site can take place on BV until Newmarket is available to the Club which seems good for us. However the receivers who effectively own the ground with the Bank of Ireland applied for permission to remove the condition.
The Supporters Trust and Sport Engand objected and permission was refused so the condition still stands but there is nothing to stop further applicationsbeing made. That is why the Trust made an application to have BV listed as an Asset of Community Value. I gave an update on the application this evening but the main point is that the application is being considered by the Council late tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. In view of tonights meeting I wonder what the outcome will be. I should be informed on Monday of the outcome and that will be posted on Social Media.
