Please see the attached PDF http://news.ncfg.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NCFG-Theft-Press-Release-160220.pdf
News update January 2020
Our appeal for planning permission to build an artificial turf football stadium at Faraday Road was unanimously supported by the Western Area Planning Committee of West Berkshire Council on Wed 15 Jan, so we have proved that a new football ground on the site of the existing one is viable (obvious really!) See our press release here.
But what a mess the ground is in! Closed unnecessarily 18 months ago and it won’t be re-opened for football by the council. The ground was usable in June 2018 and has been partly demolished mysteriously since, so we continue to have no decent football venue. The council refused to divulge a condition report in our FOI request and on two site visits no one turned up with a key to open the buildings for inspection. Still no sound reasons why the ground can’t be re-opened, but they won’t do it. They’ve changed their mind about the unpopular MUGA and replaced that idea with a cheaper unpopluar fence round a field, really? We will continue to ask if we can play some sort of organised football there.
Please see the news blog for recent posts on the subject.
At no time until now has WBC volunteered to replace the football ground with a like-for-like facility, even though this should have been on their to-do list back in 2003-05 (they just repeat that they’ve always said it was part of their “vision” and everyone must know about it); meantime we are left in a hiatus with no ground. And will the council fund a new community ground?
It was closed because WBC entered into a contract with St Modwen that obligated the council to secure vacant possession. Even without the development agreement being unlawful (which the council seems to think was not their fault), there was no way that development could have taken place for several years after the ground was closed, so why close it prematurely?
WBC has only acted under recent pressure from us, the FA and Sport England.
WBC has not explained what the benefits of flats over a football ground are (they just state it as obvious when it’s not to most people) – how do they measure these so-called advantages?
Who removed the pitch perimeter spectator chain link fence from the ground and why? (it’s still listed as a work cost to do).
WBC assume that any temporary tenant needs a lease, but why can’t it just be an adhoc booking arrangement like we suggested?
