We had a positive meeting with Paul Anstey and Jim Sweeting (WBC Leisure) where we discussed how West Berks moves forward with its leisure strategy “vision” in consultation with all relevant stakeholders from the sporting public.
We await the results of the Playing Pitch Strategy.
This vision is more about the possibilities at Northcroft and does not currently include Faraday Road.
Apparently West Berks is 8 artificial football pitches short for its football teams!
See the Newbury Weekly News article about manager Sue Hewitt’s views as published on the Nebwury Today website here
More embarrassment for West Berks Council here
See the local paper’s website report here
From: deputychair@ncfg.uk
Date: 23 November 2018 at 00:10:32 -00:00
Subject: RE: FW: Spectator stand removal from Newbury Football Ground
To: Nick Carter <Nick.Carter@westberks.gov.uk>
Cc: Graham Jones <Graham.Jones@westberks.gov.uk>, James Fredrickson <James.Fredrickson@westberks.gov.uk>, Bob.Sharples@sportengland.org, richard.benyon.mp@parliament.uk, editor@newburynews.co.uk, fiona.tomas@newburynews.co.uk, chair@ncfg.uk, press@ncfg.uk, treasurer@ncfg.uk, secretary@ncfg.uk, planning@ncfg.uk, advisor@ncfg.uk
Dear Nick,
Thank you for replying promptly. Having recently received further information and formal advice, I am able to respond without prejudice as follows:
As there is no proof of sale or transfer by West Berks Council to Newbury Football Club, Newbury Community Football Group’s solicitor has advised that the stand is a public asset owned by WBC. By stating that the legal position is open to interpretation, you appear to acknowledge our assessment. Your property colleagues and advisors will know that the provisions of the relevant legislation relating to assets left by former tenants are respected in the lease between WBC and NFC. The stand is identified in NFC’s 2006 and subsequent leases and there is a specific obligation imposed by the landlord on the tenant to keep erections, structures and buildings on the premises maintained (as owned by the landlord and marked on the lease plan which includes the stand).
You stated previously that the Asset of Community Value regulations are bypassed by NFC gifting the stand to Hungerford Town FC. This claim of gifting is at odds with the justification given by WBC’s Bill Bagnell (Freedom of Information request email thread 17 July 2018 – to which you were copied – “The outgoing club have offered the demountable spectator stand [which doesn’t belong to WBC] to Hungerford Town Football Club who very much wish to purchase it from the club.”) for the Council to support the pecuniary disposal of the stand by NFC to HTFC. For your assertion to be correct, the circumstances must have changed, in which please state what part the council played in facilitating the transfer as a gift, particularly if the council requested the sale to be a gift and if so, why. In any event, supporting a sale or gift of the stand is inappropriate behaviour by the council. The purpose of the ACV legislation and regulations is that local authorities should play a positive and active role in protecting the assets in the public interest. It follows that an authority should not devise to undermine these rules. If the council has circumvented the ACV then there would be parallels with the recent judgement by the Court of Appeal in that the council unlawfully avoided public procurement regulations.
Clearly, it makes no sense whatsoever for NFC (who for the avoidance of doubt, we say do not own the stand) to attempt to gift the stand to HTFC. According to facts disclosed by WBC in the FOI, NFC’s purpose is to raise money from the sale for the benefit of their private club. The above FOI also includes this statement from an HTFC officer on 16 July 2018, “We have agreed with Newbury F.C to purchase the stand at Newbury football club.“ The council would have had to transfer the stand to NFC in order for NFC to be in a position to organise either a monetary or non-monetary disposal. As our request for confirmation and proof of any such transfer by the council has not been satisfied, we conclude therefore that a transfer has not occurred and the stand is a public asset. This being the case, then gifting it to HTFC (a members run club occupying a private ground) is not in the best interests of the public. Furthermore, such a transfer to a private commercial entity might be examinable under best consideration and/or state aid provisions. It might even also breach the human rights of the public users of Newbury Football Ground. Even if the Council were able to devise a technical method to gift or sell the stand to HTFC (to the detriment of public interest), it would then have to procure its replacement in accordance with reinstatement/reprovisioning obligations a defined by Core Strategy, Sport England and National Planning Policy Framework at a cost to public funds.
At the Vision conference WBC also proposed the Northcroft football initiative as a future facility for NFC and not as a like-for-like replacement of Newbury Football Ground. As you know Sport England policy, national planning policy and the council’s core strategy require a like-for-like or a better replacement facility. If the council is considering proposing Northcroft as a replacement community ground, then reinstatement/reprovisioning would come at a huge cost, including requiring the council to buy a new stand. This would be irrational in the extreme and very possibly fail a Wednesbury (unreasonable behaviour) Test. Clearly, advancing plans to create a football ground at Northcroft (which we doubt are genuine or practical) are unnecessary and will consume public funds that are sorely needed for frontline services as further cuts to council funding have just been announced. To place on record, as your colleagues must know, Northcroft has been previously discounted as an appropriate location for an organised higher league football ground and in any event the cost of relocating the existing and fit-for-purpose football ground would be very high. Northcroft suffers from poor ground conditions and flooding risk – it is in fact part of the active flood plain in Newbury’s flood alleviation scheme. By contrast, Faraday Road benefits from protection afforded by that scheme. This makes the council’s publically announced proposal all the more strange.
We need to know who is responsible for the partial removal of the stand. Enquires with the Council’s Building Control department suggest that the Council, as land owner, appears to have allowed demolition to start without ensuring compliance with the Building Act (particularly sections 80 and 81) and relevant Building Regulations.
In light of the above and particularly considering the Appeal Court’s quashing of WBC’s contract with St Modwen which must cause serious further delay to the council’s unjustified desire to redevelop the ground as private flats, we formally request that the Council:
Immediately halt the stand being removed.
Reinstate those parts of the stand already removed.
Drop the already overdue plans to develop the Faraday Road site into a multi-sports area (if they have been advanced) and reinstate the ground to its protected purpose of Newbury’s main football ground where organised league matches for the female and male, youth and adult member organisations of our group and other similar clubs can be played in front of seated, sheltered spectators in the stadium . I repeat NCFG’s offer to take on the running of the facility.
Support the community’s reasonable and positive initiative to improve Newbury Football Ground with third-generation ‘3G’ artificial pitches and new facilities (at no cost to the public purse), which as well as being at one with WBC’s Health & Wellbeing Strategy and its recently announced Leisure Strategy, will be in line with the forthcoming Playing Pitch Strategy. Such an approach would be received positively by the public at large, be self-evidently beneficial, vastly improve use by local football clubs, schools and academies of all ages and generate income for the council.
It is puzzling that the council persists in resisting proactive and positive consultation with the football community; private discussions with NFC and their Thames Valley League does not amount to engagement with the whole footballing community – that’s just the viewpoint for one men’s team.
We therefore propose an urgent in-good-faith meeting between the council, NCFG, the sporting bodies and all other relevant stakeholders. The purpose is to agree a positive way forward for improving secure, high-quality football facilities in the town for the health, wellbeing and benefit of its growing number of inhabitants.
Yours sincerely,
John
News update 16/11/18 – London Road development halted!
Please see the news blog and here for the press release
We had around a hundred attendees at our two successful public consultations at Document House on Thursday 13th September (thank you!). If you have any further questions about NCFG or our football ground improvement planning application, please contact us.
Please email press@ncfg.uk for Lee McDougall, chair@ncfg.uk for Paul Morgan or general enquiries to info@ncfg.uk
And thank you to those few councillors who could make it to the briefing… if you wish to tell West Berks Council what you think, please contact their CEO nick.carter@westberks.gov.uk
Our petition for you to support our planning application for an all-weather pitch at Faraday Road, rather than the council’s plan for flats, is now live, so please share it widely!
Please show your support by clicking https://chhhhn.ge/2N8eYEW
Please read an up-to-date summary of our position
Here is our mission statement
See the press release
See the powerful attached letter
which was submitted for publication…
and the covering correspondence below…
Dear Andy,
Many thanks for your reply and your help with this
matter. It is much appreciated.
I really didn’t think I would still have to be banging the
sexism drum in 2018….!!
Just to re-iterate the point that Newbury Ladies FC are
members of Newbury Community Football Group (NCFG) and this is the umbrella
organisation for ALL community football interests in Newbury and this is really
the group that West Berks Council should be consulting with and working
with. Democratically they should not be ignoring NCFG and we all feel
very passionately about bringing them to account on this point.
And I know that NCFG are in total sync with all the points
that I raised in my earlier open letter for publication.
Thanks again and if you need any further, please feel free
to get back in touch.
Best regards,
Sue
From: Andy
Murrill <Andy.Murrill@newburynews.co.uk>
Sent: 08 November 2018 11:11
To: Sue Hewett <shewett@readingfc.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Letter for Publication
Dear Sue
Thank you for your brilliant
letter. Well said. I’m afraid it was too late for this week’s paper but I will
make sure it is in a prominent position next week.
Kind regards
Andy Murrill
Editor
From: Nick Carter <Nick.Carter@westberks.gov.uk>
Sent: 04 November 2018 16:32
To: deputychair@ncfg.uk
Cc: Graham Jones <Graham.Jones@westberks.gov.uk>;
James Fredrickson <James.Fredrickson@westberks.gov.uk>;
Bob.Sharples@sportengland.org;
richard.benyon.mp@parliament.uk;
editor@newburynews.co.uk; fiona.tomas@newburynews.co.uk; chair@ncfg.uk; press@ncfg.uk;
treasurer@ncfg.uk; secretary@ncfg.uk; planning@ncfg.uk; advisor@ncfg.uk
Subject: RE: FW: Spectator stand removal from Newbury Football Ground
Dear John
Thank you for your email. I will
respond to each of your points in turn.
As I mentioned previously the legal
position is open to interpretation however as far as the Council is concerned
the Stand has always been a tenant fixture so when the Football Club left
earlier in the year it was agreed it was theirs to use as they saw fit. They
have decided to gift it to HTFC which the Council is happy to support since it
has no use for the Stand. Both the Council and NFC are of the view that the
transfer of the Stand to HTFC is the best course of action.
To clarify, the Stand is not being
demolished it is being dismantled and reassembled in Hungerford.
In respect of the ACV we have taken
legal advice and it has been confirmed that since the Stand is being gifted to
HTFC it does not fall within the ACV.
I have seen the Facebook pictures
within your email although I am told the account has nothing to do with NFC. In
terms of the two events you cite nether are actually true and I would summarise
the situation as follows:
The Stand, which is in NFCs
ownership, has been gifted to HTFC. WBC has enabled HTFC and NFC to
access the site to dismantle the Stand and move it to Hungerford.
I hope this clarifies our position on
this matter.
Yours,
Nick.
