Right, here is what I would have probably said tonight had it gone ahead.
A real shame, just because it would have been great to meet many of you personally under such positive circumstances.
Quote: sixtogo "Have to admit I didn't agree with a celebration yet, theres way too many hurdles to get over yet. All we are is back where we were in October 2010 when the council granted permission. There are still no guarantees that it will be built as there are more battles to come. The Methley residents are appealing the decision for starters and there are question marks over the funding levels we will have to build it with. As it stands it sounds like Yorkcourt don't have the funds to do anything, so until FPP is granted and the council release the £2million nothing at all will happen.'"
We don't know what the Methley Residents are doing regarding an 'appeal', just some ramblings on twitter from one guy who lives at Methley Junction & wasn't previously that involved with things! There is only way of truly appealing anything is to ask the High Court to consider a judicial review, but they will have to have good grounds and then they would need to have something fundamental to alter the outcome of two costly public inquiries... I don't think they have anything other than restating previous issues and I don't think they would get anywhere at all and it would cost them quite a bit of money, just to get to an initial hearing... which they would surely lose. You have to prove to a judge you have a case before actually being granted leave for a judicial review!
They are clearly going to ask the SoS office for an independent internal review of the processes and a double check that everything was done as it should have been done... because this is free! I think this is what he is referring to when they say 'appeal' but this is not an appeal of the decision, just the process used to reach a decision. I think this will turn up nothing and they are just left with a very costly option of High Court which they would be plain dumb to throw money at, unless you really have it to spare!
Quote: sixtogo "It would be nice to hear the true FACTS about the state of play as they stand, not positive spin or trying to protect the innocent, but and actual account of the plan and the possible pitfalls from now on in. Keep the people in the loop and up to date. Its a community stadium, engage the community. I'm afraid a lot of the information that has been but out in the public domain is rather woolly and as such people seem to think that then stadium is now a given. Believe me it is anything but and there a fews things that we need to know.'"
Pitfalls, good god, where to start... potentially lots (as with all large projects, not this one in particular) but hopefully very few. I having being telling people what I would have said tonight, once the decision is finalised from the SoS then you will start to hear more detail and information released. Nobody is keeping anything from anybody as such, but equally we have to respect the commercial confidence of Yorkcourt, their investors and potential end user clients. When they have something they feel confident about becoming publicly available, they will tell us, until then they won't and that is just business. Interesting that some posters on another forum seem to using this, among a whole host of other things, to clearly indicate that something underhand and devious is going on. However, these same posters seem quite happy that Opus are telling them nothing about the potential sale and development of WR and this is of course perfectly normal... which it is, so they are right about something!
Quote: sixtogo "For instance has the section 106 agreement been signed and submitted yet? If not why not and why wasn't it already in place?'"
I personally haven't said a great deal about the 106 until now because, believe it or not, it wasn't that critical to the outcome of a minded to approve decision or getting us to this stage. That is probably also one of the reasons that it was not completed earlier. I suspect, having been here before with 106 agreements, that Yorkcourt, like most developers, want to hold onto this final card as long as practicable to them. Lets be clear, the 106 is the document that binds them, their partners and investors to a legal agreement to deliver something, in this case a large part of the stadium funding. The document was agreed in principal and I doubt it will change much from what was agreed as the public hearings. Equally, the 106 is the absolute, so they HAVE to do what its says, but equally we have been assured by Yorkcourt that their ambition is to do things much earlier than the 106 will ultimately compel them to do and also, this relies on the Sir Rodney and the Trust board fulfilling their bit of the deal, so to speak.
You don't spend all this money, as Yorkcourt have to date, without knowing the end game and also to fall at the last hurdle. They will be lots of paper going backwards and forwards between them, the SoS office, Wakefield MDC and all their lawyers as we speak. They still have a good month and we understand that they will be submitting everything the SoS wants by the deadline.
Don't forget, that is what we want them to do as well, again posters on another forum keep telling everyone this is a negative thing... it isn't, it is the opposite and these things need to be put in place so everything happens as promised. We have no reasons to doubt it won't!
Quote: sixtogo "What are the grants we are going for and what impact on the design will they have? What are the chances of succesful applications?'"
Sir Rodney is another guy, like Colin, who only says something when he has something worth saying and reporting. Sir Rodney has responded to e-mails and pretty much says just that, lets get the final decision and in the meantime he will go away and now start and sort out the identified funding streams so has something concrete to report. He will tell us all something when he has something worth saying. He is first class at this stuff and we should give him the time to get on with it now he has the first green-light he needed.
What is the true state of play regarding Yorkcourt need to sell and build the B8 prior to the stadium build? Has any actually been sold yet?
60,000 sq m is what was agreed and I don't expect that to change. But remember, this is the absolute, if funding and his investors allow, which he hopes they will, and Sir Rodney & Wakefield do their bits, this will come much earlier.
How will the requirement for an archaeological dig on the site impact the build time?
Normally it doesn't effect anything. I had a similar situation on a large site in Newark. If they find anything, which on this site I doubt, but we did at Newark, then it just means getting foundation plans and floor levels agreed so the possible archaeological levels are not disturbed or disruption is minimised. Unless they find something of national importance and then they convince someone to part with a massive amount of money to fund digging it all up, then it stays insitu for future generations to worry about digging up... if they too think it is worth it!
Quote: sixtogo "
When will FPP be applied for? Is it ready for submitting immediately? Who is paying for this?'"
As soon as it needs to and no sooner. Reserved matters will take 8 weeks tops and like at GH, is just a formality. No idea, I assume the trust will pay, but who gives the trust the money I don't yet know... of course, their is circa £2m to come from WMDC, so that more than cover it!
Quote: sixtogo "
Will Yorkcourt actually be doing the stadium build or will it be sub-contracted out to a company like, say, Langtree?'"
Yorkcourt and Langtree are developers, they will let the stadium build contract to the lowest tender bidder on the tender list, or go D&B. The list will probably include MC's who have stadium build experience and in actual fact, I bet I could right that list myself. I might do that when we get a bit further down the line and see if I am right!
