Without endorsing any party, I have been in touch will all 4 parliamentary candidates for Outwood & Morley and had no response from either the LibDems or Labour, but offers of assistance and support from the Tories and UKIP.

There were representatives from UKIP at the meeting last night. There was one Lab councillor there who IS a Wakefield Supporter, but holds the Labour Whip and must therefore vote as instructed.

I also have a meeting tomorrow with Antony Calvert, who is standing for the Tories in Wakefield.

Mary Creagh has just replied to my e-mail and I will read the reply in full before commenting.

If the Tories get in again I'm off to live in a PNG village or some such like because it will be better than here

if labour get in again im gonna e mail nicola sturgeon , perhaps mr box will take notice of her .

The Council appoints its Leader for a 4 year term of office. The current term of office will expire in May 2016 so Cllr Box is not going anywhere. The current make up of the Council is Lab 54 Con 6 UKIP 2 Ind 1.

The Labour Party is defending 17 seats so if it lost all 17 it will still be comfortably be in control of the Council.

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.

You know exactly how Peter box thinks and what his priorities are when at the meeting the radio broadcast tape was played and his first words to Ian were "Are you going to watch Cas at the weekend?". Sums him up in a nutshell!

1 Possibly, but there is a substantial element of the site which he would be unable to develop if so.
2 Sir Rodney is head of the Stadium Trust and acts on our behalf
3 Not to our knowledge at this time, but they have tried to remove the planning condition which relates to NM. The ACV would only protect us for 6 months
4 That would be one conclusion - yes!

Or regarding point 1, they could theoretically develop up to the 60,000 sqm required on the part that remain green belt and already permitted under the planning permission then leave it at that. Then come renewal time miraculously there are a whole new set of plans for the rest of the now reclassified area that can be passed without any problems. Bingo, area fully developed. (Don't actually know if that can be done but nothing surprises me anymore).

I don't necessarily buy into the they'll definately develop it all because there is money to be made line to be honest. Having to shell out 12 million quid for a stadium would take a rather large chunk out of their profits. I believe they'll only build it all without a stadium there and will play the long game to do so and time is something we don't have a lot of. The council i think know this and are scared to death that they will pull the project meaning they miss their government targets and lose further funding which it can ill afford. Hence their reluctence to lean on them. For me the real villans are Yorkcourt who have us and the council over a barrel. They never had any intention of building a stadium and never will do.

PROTESTS OUTSIDE OF YORKCOURT OFFICES?

I think we all can voice opinions of what might and may not happen with and future development and those opiniond do and will differ. We can all voice opinions who are the villains in all this but I think one thing everyone is agreed on and that is who are the victims and that is the people of Wakefield.

Quite.

Indeed they are, although i sometimes wonder just how many of the wider general public actually give a toss these days.

As for the political side of it, they are all as bad as each other. If any of them told me today was monday i'd check the calender to make sure.