Quote Slugger McBatt="Slugger McBatt"Trying to be as neutral as possible, I see the council's position as this:
1. Yorkcourt promised to build warehousing on land that was about to be removed from green belt, providing a lot of employment in financially-difficult times
2. As a side issue, they get the fringe benefit of a new stadium for Wakefield.
I can imagine that the principal reason for approving the development was jobs, not to rescue Trinity.
Up step Yorkcourt, who decide to remove the fringe benefit. What do the council do next? They ought to say you must stop developing and instead build that ground. But that is saying that many jobs cannot be provided just so a club can be bailed out that has lurched from crisis to crisis. The council might feel they are entitled to say that the creation of jobs takes priority over a point of principle.
It has to be remembered that part of this difficulty seems to be because the owners of the club back in the day gambled on Thornes Park by selling the ground to themselves, in the guise of a limited company, presumably to bank the profit at the time of economic boom when they could sell it to developers once Thornes Park was built. We are very much the authors of our own misfortune and the council may feel that the creation of jobs comes first.
I'm not saying its right, but if you weren't a Wakefield fan, or a sports fan or a rugby fan, the argument for jobs over a point of principle is one to understand. The villains are Yorkcourt and they will bring the club down. The council are guilty only in not spending money and time going after the villains.
It has to be remembered too that if there is some miracle and the funds are somehow found to develop Belle Vue, we will need to deal with the council for the various permissions. Sometimes it's better to be inside the tent urinating out, than outside urinating in.
Maybe I'm being too fair.'"
Some of this is right, but:
1 The Stadium was a cornerstone of the proposal, not a 'fringe benefit', as it justifies the removal from GB of a large section of land. Only part of this site was re-designated under the LDF to B8 warehousing. Much of the NM site remains in GB and can only be developed under the outline PP. If YC decide not to develop the rest of the wider site, we may not have a leg to stand on!
2 The urinating quote is a favourite of SandalCat. We have tried that for years but thought that it was time to try a different approach. Sir Rodney has been left out of this current process so, in effect, he remains inside the tent.
3 The money from the sale of BV was essentially used to sustain the club. I think we all know by now that there isn't enough revenue to cover the costs at the club. This kept us going for several years - pro-longing the Ted era for that time. When that ran out, and the bank would not provide the balance of the deal, the whole thing collapsed.
4 If the creation of jobs is so vital (only 154 jobs created for Newcold btw), then why were the 120 jobs at Aldi in Castleford not important? It is because to grant planning for Aldi would undermine the 5 Towns Park - this is known as a 'material effect'. So why was the 'dis-aggregation' of NM not also a 'material effect'?
it's less embarrassing 
