Quote: Sandal Cat "Yes, it was a planning condition. There is no covenant on Belle Vue regarding playing rugby on it. The planning condition was on the housing consent but as you say that expired in February so there is no current planning consent on Belle Vue.
The Council could reinsert the planning condition on any new consent it may grant and I will object to any planning consent being granted unless the condition is included on any consent and will also seek Sport England's support as well. I dont think moving out of Wakefield weakens the position as we will want to come back to Wakefield and paly in a new/refurbished stadium. If we were to move to paly at Featherstone then I feel that would weaken our position considerably as we would be playing in Wakefield.
Also the ACV applies to any new owner and the fact that its listed is a material consideration in considering any planning application and indeed the Council could refuse consent and even utilise its CPO powers if it wished.
The Council is key to all this and you will I'm sure have your own opinions as to whether they will assist us or not.'"
I feel with regards the move to Dewsbury neither opinion is right or wrong and that it is down to circumstances. In these cases it will come down to whether the club/trust either enquired and was refused or were offered and turned down another ground in the area. If it has taken the choice to move outside voluntarily as opposed to accepting an offer from Fev or Cas then yes it weakens us as it was our choice to go. If there was no other options available then yes, it won't make a great deal of difference being at Dewsbury. I guess Mr Carter is the man to ask about that.
Remember the point though that we are in the eyes of the law choosing to leave a lease just one year into a five year deal, we are not being kicked out at this stage. We could stay if we wanted and there is nothing from that point of view stopping us spending our money on BV and making it safe as opposed to spending extra on players and extra staff. A court wouldn't care what our salary cap is. We may know that it isn't feasible in reality to run the club like that but the lawyers would run rings round us on that point.
As for the ACV yes it will apply to a new owner, but will only have any real weighting should they try and move it on before it is removed from the register. According to its website this company freely admits to land banking so it is doubtful that will happen in any case. As for them refusing any planning application if the club had nowhere to play then yes, they might. But once again as soon as they have taken the option to leave and the ground is empty then it would increase the chances if a successful application a thousand fold.
