Regarding the funds i guess its the age old excuse is whatever the council give to us they have to match to Cas and Fev and right now given the cuts every bit of spend has to be justified. With the Hepworth the visitor numbers speak for themselves so the council have a fall back position. We just don't have the pulling power and our reputation isn't all that great given the financial events of recents years. Their incompetence cannot be defended though.

As for Belle Vue that sounds ominous. I'm guessing it means that the developers are sniffing around the bank of Ireland regarding a sale for housing? I suppose in their minds it is theirs to do with what they wish. Wasn't someone trying to have the covenant removed on the ground?

And Yorkcourt? I would say there is sod all chance they'll cough up a dime more than they are legally forced to. And they'll probably try wriggling out of that as well.

I'd be happy securing Belle Vue for the clubs future use at this moment in time, any development of the ground would be a bonus.

The point being that one way or the other, through incompetence, naivety or just bad luck, WTW is being shafted once again; and because so few people in the City give a damn, there won't be any public or media brouhaha to embarrass those responsible into action.

I wouldn't bet on that!

We've shown once before that, when united in cause, we can achieve something. We can and will become a nuisance again, if it comes to it!

The next few weeks are crucial in that respect!

Lets not forget this is more than a WTW matter it was a community stadium with community facilities. A massive amount of planning gain has been provided and a 106 should have put significant funds back into the community as a result. Many people from all sectors of the community spoke at the enquiry in support of this and they have also been let down.

What are we going to do about it,can we organise ,protest rally,petition,we can not let them ride roughshod over Commuity Trust.

I can assure you that things are happening behind the scenes and its a little too early to start organising protests etc. but please bear with us. Depending on outcomes we may need everyones support.

Lets not forget this is a Community Stadium, not a stadium solely for Wakefield Trinity. Yes we will be the anchor tenant but will pay rent to play there and not own the stadium whether that be at Newmarket or a redeveloped Belle Vue. The facilities proposed at Newmarket were not just a stadium but many other facilities that would benefit the citizens of Wakefield and many other sports.

No one is asking for Wakefield MDC to give money to or prop up Wakefield Trinity. All we are asking is that the Council and the Developer deliver what they agreed to deliver when planning on an old colliery site was granted following the Public Inquiry- nothing more, nothing else.

If anything less is delivered then the people of Wakefield, not just fans of Wakefield Trinity have been duped and let down and we collectively cannot allow this to happen.

Being no kind of expert on this type of thing, what is the actual state of play? What is LEGALLY bound? Do the council and Yorkcourt HAVE to provide those facilities by law or is the wording written that they can sidestep the community side of it? Forgetting what they should or shouldn't do morally, is there a get out clause for them?

I would certainly not claim to be an expert but I worked in development for most of my career so I have a bit of knowledge on the subject.

I know people want to know what's going on but please trust us. The matter is not simple - when is it ever - but there are people working on this but we cannot make public what we are doing. It would be like telling the Germans which beaches we were planning to land on in Normandy on 6th June 1944.

As I say please Trust us and be ready to give us your support if/when we need it.

A s106 agreement *should* be legally binding, but reading between the lines of what vasty has posted, it sounds like YCP have drafted it in such a way that they've deliberately built in an escape hatch, which the planning bods at WMDC have failed to spot; so it's been signed by all parties and no longer obligates YCP to do anything like what was originally intended.

That's not too far off, but also not that simple. There are avenues to explore, which is ongoing, and sometimes the threat of those avenues can be enough to bring people to the table.

There is more than a RL club with something to lose here and we will be pointing this out to certain parties!

There are some good people involved here and they are quite focused for the next round of battles!

Where there is life there is hope!

Surely the government ie. Mr Pickles and co. have been 'duped'.
I am sure they would not take kindly to something they have approved turning out to be ' not what they approved'.
Can they not be involved or at least made aware of the situation ?

That's possibly one of the avenues being 'threatened' by the Trust in order to get Colin Mackie back to the "table".

I posted on this the moment it became known that this loophole was being exploited by the developer and then agreed to keep quiet on it in order to help pursue the bigger picture.

IMO YCP have signalled their intentions, they have shown they have no capacity to behave honourably and cannot be trusted!

We should not be trying to soft soap them at all, instead we should be bringing to bare every type of pressure available to us. That includes the Secretary of States Office, press and media, WMDC and the naming and shaming of the individuals who've acted dishonourably and who's actions have robbed the Wakefield Comminity of the funds required to build these sports facilities.

May be just coincidence, the same escape hatch has also allowed the WMDC to avoid adding their £2m into the funding as was specified on the 106. Deliberate or just luck, who knows. However the cynical side of me suggests that the fact that they no longer seem obliged to do this may well leave them less enthusiastic about pushing things too far

If that's the case, I wouldn't bother threatening; if they were prepared to dry bum the club, the individuals who supported the development the Inspector and the people of Wakefield, then they've shown their hand.

Get the WE, YEP and anyone else who'll listen to run the story, and have a conversation with someone from the SoS' office, to highlight that their Inspector has been duped by an unscrupulous developer.

Sometimes, you have to fight fire with fire.

Pretty much what I was saying, YCP will not offer anything, they're content to hide behind anonymity and silence while playing the long game. While ever we play the nice guy they'll continue to treat us like suckers.

We hear you, and it's all in the pot. But with respect to some of the parties involved, we need to follow through what we've already started first.

I do have a little experience of stirring things up when required and I am grateful to the support we received. I had hoped those days had gone....

Souds like we are as far away from "The Holy Grail" of a new stadium as we have always been.

There's always plenty on here ready to give it some from a keyboard, looking like it's getting close to the "mobilising the troops" time again, I assume the hundreds that are angry/disappointed are ready to get off their ar ses and put the work in, we'll see eh?

We have a site, we have a 106 agreement that was at least intended to ensure we get a stadium - at least that's what the government inspector was expecting!

We have come a long way, but the trick is to push it that bit further!

Makes you laugh when a City the size of Wakefield has many many false hopes on numerous new stadium sites over the last 30 years but a town like Shorpe looks like getting a new stadium less than 30 years since their present stadia was built. Hopefully we will receive positive stadium news soon and we will get a decent stadium that will do the City proud

From the outside it looks like we've been stitched up. How can that happen when the Secretary of State has been involved in this process?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the right question!

We do not accept that we have nothing though, and will use what we can to aid our cause!

I fear if the political will isn't there now then whatever we do we will be peeing into the wind. It will ultimately come down to what the protagonists are legally obliged to do, and whether the trust could threaten to take them to court and win. If the 106 gives them a route out they will take it and no amount of protests will change that, bar them having a massive guilt trip. And given they are doing what they are now tells me that ain't gunna happen. At a time when the council are cutting services left right and centre i fear the wider wakefield public would prefer any extra money to be spent on things like keeping the huge amount of children's centres they are having to close open rather than making sure we have a roof over our heads. I'm not sure that outside of the wakey fans there will be a great deal of support, whether the community facilities line is constantly peddled or not. I think most will feel there are bigger fish to fry and that could leave us exposed as we will need all the help we can get to have a chance. I really hope there is a rabbit to be pulled out of the hat and we get a positive result but i have a really bad feeling about this.

When casting your eyes around the internet it doesn't take long before you start shaking your head at WMDCs inability to get a stadium built in comparison to other smaller Town and City Councils.

Rotherham
Bristol
Oldham
Peterborough
Plymouth
Shorpe
Brentford
Darlington
Brighton