Quote ="Glassblower"Thanks for the heads up Alf.
To be honest I don't blame him, there are a lot more negative articles than there are positive. I believe folks forget this is not just about Rugby League it is about a community and lets not forget peoples livelihoods!'"
He tells you to be careful and that is ok!
I am not sensitive about the Guardian article, it is at it's worst only very sloppy journalism and then is just reporting the views and opinions of three ward councillors from Leeds. He original stated that the site was in Rothwell and when prompted he changed it and apologised but he clearly just took my word for it and the piece still says New Market Lane and of course it is Newmarket Lane... as a professional journalist he could not even be bothered to look at the site on Google maps it would appear, he has just written a piece off the back of maybe a press release and no more. I of course disagree with the Councillors views and set out my argument for doing so.
I just want to say the following information below is all from public record, I have not named anyone directly even though that is also public record, as that is against the AUP of RL Fans, where I have made assumptions and connections I have clearly stated so and asked the reader to make their own judgement based on this public record information.
As for Wakefield Angry Residents (W.A.R.) it is not all it seems and is just a faux group invented by a prominent affluent resident of Newmarket Lane and possibly some of his neighbours (we can only factually trace the groups to one resident, but rumour in Stanley is that some, not all, of his neighbours are involved). They set up two faux groups actually, the first one was Wakefield Community Conservation Group. It is a very emotive name isn't it, makes it sound like they are interested in conservation doesn't it and that they were an existing group before this came along... they both didn't exist, they are just vehicles designed, very expertly mind, to give a sense of credibility and solicit and even trick (IMO) people into objecting! This person is very clever and knows what he is doing, because as well as his business on Newmarket Lane he is also a Director of, among many businesses, a housing developer. He has skeletons in his closet (I will come back to that) and has therefore tried to conceal his identity but has not done that great a job of it! The first website he set up, [urlhttp://www.wakefieldccg.co.uk[/url he registered under his business name on Newmarket Lane and some of you may know, you have to reveal your address if you are a business on the WHOIS search, search it yourself, it is still there on the WHOIS. He then set up the [urlhttp://www.wakefieldangryresidents.com[/url website, he got a little cleverer here and by using a .com a address he was able to conceal his identity using a concealment service... of course, the website is hosted by the same company as all his websites and has exactly the same DNS servers, as well as directly ripping off much of the material and pictures from his original website.... coincidence, you decide! His latest trick was to take out a new domain for the now re-christened Wakefield and Leeds Community Conservation Group [urlhttp://www.wccg.co.uk[/url. This time he clearly just decided to register the domain as being for an individual, in that way he doesn't have to give an address you see, but he can't use his real name, so what does he do... he registered the site as being owned by a Mr Ted Richardson, funny, odd and quite possibly illegal all at the same time! Go have a look at the WHOIS... he of course still points the original web address at the new one, so the fact that once again the new domain uses the same host and DNS server addresses are not required to link him to this site.
He (and possibly some of his neighbours) has printed and paid for leaflets to be commercially distributed all over the surrounding areas. The flyers in the main are like the website, it has some reasonably factual information on them but most of it highly subjective, without factual foundation and at the worst contains lies and libels Wakefield MDC more than once. This has all been expertly designed to gain and then IMO use and abuse peoples trust and play on most peoples issues with officialdom. On the WAR website the lies start straight away...
Quote The current issue we are tackling is the proposed destruction of Green Belt land in Stanley, Wakefield. For the now the website is dedicated to this pressing issue, and will resume to normal in the coming months.'"
Makes it sound like this Wakefield Angry Residents group has been going a while doesn't it and was tackling other issues in the area prior to this one and will go on to another issues when this is over? Of course the website only went up in April this year and it looked like this from day one I can assure you, it is a con mate, a brilliant elaborate one, but a con! It is full of other lies mixed in with some facts but of course turned to suit his (their) objective... that is to stop this development because they don't want it near them, nothing more, nothing less... they are NIMBY's. Now you might come back with the often used phrase of, 'well, how would you like it if someone built this next to you?' but this is not only a loaded question (a bit like saying how would you like it if I punched you in the nose?) but is not a valid objection, in fact it is the top of the list of objections you should not make! Painful if it is you, of course, but the system and the law don't work that way.
Our friend on Newmarket Lane knows this and that is why he has very cleverly done what he has done! He knows it because he is no stranger to being on the other side of this process and has before now, got himself into a spot of bother in Scotland for prematurely chopping some tress down on a housing development the housing company he is a Director of were looking to get planning permission for (he is named personally as the applicant of the application as well)! Not strictly illegal, as we understand it there were no TPO's on the trees, but it lost him his planning permission that the planning offices were actual going to recommend approval of if he reduced the number of new houses and retained more trees! Maybe this guy has seen the light and therefore he is now serious about conservation, after all we can prove he at the very least runs a website called Wakefield & Leeds Community Conservation Group, or maybe he couldn't give a stuff about conservation and is just interested in looking out for his own interests and getting others to help him through some very clever 'PR' work... you decide?
It is for this reason that I actually got so heavily involved and passionate about putting over an alternative view, one that is a little more balanced than theirs but like everything, still subjective. It would be hugely hypocritical as a Structural Engineer by profession and therefore someone who has to be pro-development as it is what I earn my living from, to say that I don't have a pro-development bias! But I live very local to the site (more local than the majority of the objectors) , I don't support Wakefield Trinity, as everyone knows I am a Rhinos season ticket holder and Rhinos 4 Life member (so do support RL and therefore both Wakefield and Cas getting new grounds) and I don't have anything to gain from either build as I work in a very specialist sector of the timber industry.
The site has some issues, not least of which is that it is in Green belt (the only real valid objection issue IMO), but I will let you into a secret, all sites this big do, it is very rare for them not to have just by the pure nature of the size of the development! Glasshougton certainly did, and it also had until very recently a Highways Agency Section 14 holding notice imposed on the site of the new Cas ground, so it is not a big deal and just need dialogue and work to resolve.
Please don't believe everything everyone tells you, they have agenda's, including me I suppose, but unfortunately they wish to conceal their true intent to get what they want, I have at least told you why I support the support the development and my real identity is no secret!
