Keep the momentum going lads. it seems to be having an effect.
Has Daddycool put the case to his MP as a private citizen and constituent do we know.

This is a good shout.
You only need 10 000 to get a response from the government.
However, the petition has to be carefully worded, many are rejected.
We have to be clear what question we want to ask HM Govt. Probably focusing on the legal position. Clarifying who is responsible for ensuring the s. 106 and how the land for the cold store was allowed you be removed from that agreement. Also focus on community sports facilities and stadium rather than Trinity's needs.
I'm sure we could reach 10k and 100k is possible with support of the wider RL family.
Anyone up for drafting a question? TRB? IA? Bren2k?

https://twitter.com/ianherbs/status/849303363447607304

https://twitter.com/ianherbs/status/849303363447607304

Here is a copy of my letter to local Labour Councillor :

Dear Sir,

You spineless, feckless, sycophantic, grovelling, halfwit, sad, expense claiming . Why don`t you grow a pair, speak out and stand up to your cheating, lying, sick minded, corrupt leader. Box is a xxxx and you know it.
PS Happy Easter

Yours BCT

BA University of Lagos

Mmmm....that should do it.

University of Lagos my , they wouldn't let you in

Sent mine to my 3 councillors as below:

Councillor XXXXX,

I have lived in the Wakefield area for the majority of my life and am concerned by the article I read yesterday in a national newspaper which appears to bring into question the actions of my local council.
Several years ago I was one of 15,000 residents of Wakefield that signed a petition in favour of the development of a community stadium at Newmarket Lane, for the benefit of the Wakefield public. Following a lengthy Public Enquiry a local developer (Yorkcourt Properties) were granted planning permission and 220 acres of land was taken out of Green Belt in return for community sports facilities as part of a s106 agreement.
I understand that the responsibility for enforcement of any s106 agreement lies with the local planning authority (WMDC in this case) and yet the leader of our council has repeatedly denied those responsibilities, and has failed to get the developer to fulfil any obligations they had. On top of that, the report from HM Inspector stated that “The scheme cannot be disaggregated, because to do so would mean it could not fund the community stadium elements.” and yet that is exactly what WMDC allowed to happen when Yorkcourt submitted a separate planning application for the Newcold facility that has been built on the Newmarket site, a development that would have contributed a significant portion of the required trigger point for Yorkcourt to build those community facilities.
At a time when the council is cutting back on funding and closing sports/leisure facilities across the city, and with the rising obesity rates in this country, I am shocked and that there appears to be no political will to enforce the build of facilities that would provide potentially huge health benefits to the citizens of Wakefield with little or no cost to the council.

I have always been proud of my City and my heritage but as the father of two young boys aged 6 and 9 who love sport, all I currently see is a steady decline in the facilities that are on offer to children and I fear for them and for future generations.

I believe that WMDC is being negligent in it’s duty to the citizens of Wakefield and would respectfully request that as my local councillor you do whatever you can to raise this matter at the next council meeting and seek some answers for the Wakefield public.

Regards,



So far received a reply from Janet Holmes:

I've also had the response from Lucinda whatshername, saying that there'll be a coordinated response by Thursday; prior to that, I had a response from my Labour councillor saying that all correspondence regarding the stadium is being passed to Box. The Tory hasn't responded at all.

So - right now, someone will be drafting a weaselly, mealy-mouthed response, which Lucinda will copy/paste to all of us on Thursday - and Box will consider that job done.

I would suggest that the next step is a coordinated contact with the office of the SoS, to highlight the fact that the instructions in his letter granting approval have been disregarded and that as a result, 220 acres of Green Belt land has been gifted to a private developer without any attempt to enforce the conditions he applied. It might also be worth mentioning the point that Mr Box appears well able to throw his full support behind a similar project in his own ward, which will benefit a private company to the tune of £10m - a private company of which he happens to be a shareholder...

I'd also strongly recommend that a version of the email I posted earlier in this thread be sent to your local councillors - especially the non-Labour ones - and that everyone writes to Mary Creagh.

This is the most momentum we've ever had - discomfort and embarrassment is a powerful weapon against local politicians; it's now or never.

I emailed Mary Creagh yesterday - as yet no response from her ...

Does anyone have the email addresses of the best councillors to contact regarding the stadium? Tried to find my local one using the wakefield.gov website but the councillor database is mysteriously down...

Just tried database myself and .... yes it's down. Used it last night and it was fine. It suggests that somebody was told to disable it when they came into work this morning! Don't know who the best councillors are but I emailed mine last night but put a local slant on the letter so it related to their own patch. Hope this prevents them from just giving Box's standard statement.

Good post again Bren

Just picking out this paragraph.

Whoever Lucinda is there is no doubt she will be like nearly all the employees of WMDC, a hard working ordinary person who has a job that she performs honestly and diligently. Even the labour councillors who we are writing to are reasonable people in the main but are not that strong and easily pulled into line. I would not mind betting the whole lot of them are sick of the man at the top who they are now having to cover for and form a shield wall around him and take his flak.

Thank you for your email about the Wakefield Trinity situation. I am sure that it will be raised at the Council meeting next week and I agree with your thoughts on the provision of facilities for exercise.

As you say, this problem regarding the Wakefield Trinity ground originated some years ago, and as I was not a councillor then I can only go on what has been reported. Any information on property transactions is very difficult to obtain as Cabinet meetings concerning them are held in private and “Commercial confidentiality” prevents access.

I am aware of complaints made over the years on behalf of a resident’s group to the Council legal section, the Chief Executive, the MP, police, Ombudsman, Secretary of State and the press alleging sale by the Council of the Belle Vue ground at well below market price, and the ensuing issues. I do not see how I can make progress by repeating this, but will assist if anyone can provide ideas.

A couple of years ago I attended a meeting at the Belle Vue ground called by those who were trying to save the club, at which I offered to help as a councillor if they thought that there was any way in which pressure could be applied. I have heard nothing from them since.

On a recent current issue I have been able to have at least a temporary effect in stopping a dubious project, (at least until I am no longer a councillor), by chasing up what has gone on and airing uncomfortable facts in Council. The local press will not report it, the Local Government Ombudsman asked the Chief Executive pertinent questions, but then decided that she didn’t need the answers and has done nothing, the police fraud department won’t act without a ruling by the Secretary of State, and he ruled in favour of WMDC in spite of the evidence. Another appeal to the Ombudsman is in progress.

Even with clear evidence and lying recorded at a videoed Cabinet meeting, it seems impossible to make any progress, so unless the new Ombudsman is willing to re-open this and other historic cases, I do not hold out a lot of hope for the new Wakefield Trinity ground at Newmarket I am afraid, but I will help if I can.

Regards,

David Dews.

The stink from this gets worse by the hour. Just emailed Mary Creagh from the contact details on her website. As others have said it's now or never to get our voices heard particularly with local elections coming up too.

Excellent, just ad to the list of complaints as this builds - how obvious an attempt to hide the truth. I will attempt to find them again

Can anybody post the contact details for the SofS to send letters to

Thankfully I've found someone who lives in the same area as me who has emailed them already so I've sent them a PM.

Cllr Dews seems to be receptive to the idea of support, he has just replied to me with;

I am happy for you to share my response, is this the Community Trust dealing with the property developer? If so, is there any particular question that you would like me to raise next week at the Council meeting?

Regards,

David Dews.

Would anyone be able to pass his details on to someone from the community trust so they can speak directly with him

Quote ="WF Rhino"Does anyone have the email addresses of the best councillors to contact regarding the stadium? Tried to find my local one using the wakefield.gov website but the councillor database is mysteriously down...'" Yep it's a really poor effort, does Box not realise that the Web doesn't allow secrets. I used this method Go to this site - type in your postcode and it will list your Councillors - https://www.writetothem.com/?gclid=CJ-u ... 0wod2hkKEQ In my case - Councillor Maureen Cummings Put 'Councillor Maureen Cummings' in any search engine I got this www.ryhillpc.com/councillors.html Which gave me this - Maureen Cummings tel. 01924363165 email mcummings@wakefield.gov.uk Albert Manifield tel. 01226726219 email amanifield@wakefield.gov.uk Faith Heptinstall tel. 01226725183 email fheptinstall@wakefield.gov.uk Happy hunting

Quote ="WF Rhino"Does anyone have the email addresses of the best councillors to contact regarding the stadium? Tried to find my local one using the wakefield.gov website but the councillor database is mysteriously down...'" Yep it's a really poor effort, does Box not realise that the Web doesn't allow secrets. I used this method Go to this site - type in your postcode and it will list your Councillors - https://www.writetothem.com/?gclid=CJ-u ... 0wod2hkKEQ In my case - Councillor Maureen Cummings Put 'Councillor Maureen Cummings' in any search engine I got this www.ryhillpc.com/councillors.html Which gave me this - Maureen Cummings tel. 01924363165 email mcummings@wakefield.gov.uk Albert Manifield tel. 01226726219 email amanifield@wakefield.gov.uk Faith Heptinstall tel. 01226725183 email fheptinstall@wakefield.gov.uk Happy hunting

Quote ="vastman"Yep it's a really poor effort, does Box not realise that the Web doesn't allow secrets. I used this method Go to this site - type in your postcode and it will list your Councillors - https://www.writetothem.com/?gclid=CJ-u ... 0wod2hkKEQ In my case - Councillor Maureen Cummings Put 'Councillor Maureen Cummings' in any search engine I got this www.ryhillpc.com/councillors.html Which gave me this - Maureen Cummings tel. 01924363165 email mcummings@wakefield.gov.uk Albert Manifield tel. 01226726219 email amanifield@wakefield.gov.uk Faith Heptinstall tel. 01226725183 email fheptinstall@wakefield.gov.uk Happy hunting '" Excellent, I've got the contact info for the lot now Cheers.

Quote ="vastman"Yep it's a really poor effort, does Box not realise that the Web doesn't allow secrets. I used this method Go to this site - type in your postcode and it will list your Councillors - https://www.writetothem.com/?gclid=CJ-u ... 0wod2hkKEQ In my case - Councillor Maureen Cummings Put 'Councillor Maureen Cummings' in any search engine I got this www.ryhillpc.com/councillors.html Which gave me this - Maureen Cummings tel. 01924363165 email mcummings@wakefield.gov.uk Albert Manifield tel. 01226726219 email amanifield@wakefield.gov.uk Faith Heptinstall tel. 01226725183 email fheptinstall@wakefield.gov.uk Happy hunting '" Excellent, I've got the contact info for the lot now Cheers.

Nearly peed.

No reply from my councillor.

Quote ="vastman"Yep it's a really poor effort, does Box not realise that the Web doesn't allow secrets. I used this method Go to this site - type in your postcode and it will list your Councillors - https://www.writetothem.com/?gclid=CJ-u ... 0wod2hkKEQ In my case - Councillor Maureen Cummings Put 'Councillor Maureen Cummings' in any search engine I got this www.ryhillpc.com/councillors.html Which gave me this - Maureen Cummings tel. 01924363165 email mcummings@wakefield.gov.uk Albert Manifield tel. 01226726219 email amanifield@wakefield.gov.uk Faith Heptinstall tel. 01226725183 email fheptinstall@wakefield.gov.uk Happy hunting '" Thats brilliant, so easy to use!

Quote ="vastman"Yep it's a really poor effort, does Box not realise that the Web doesn't allow secrets. I used this method Go to this site - type in your postcode and it will list your Councillors - https://www.writetothem.com/?gclid=CJ-u ... 0wod2hkKEQ In my case - Councillor Maureen Cummings Put 'Councillor Maureen Cummings' in any search engine I got this www.ryhillpc.com/councillors.html Which gave me this - Maureen Cummings tel. 01924363165 email mcummings@wakefield.gov.uk Albert Manifield tel. 01226726219 email amanifield@wakefield.gov.uk Faith Heptinstall tel. 01226725183 email fheptinstall@wakefield.gov.uk Happy hunting '" Thats brilliant, so easy to use!

Much easier to use, cheers Vasty.

Now emailed Hilary Mitchell, Kevin Swift and Ryan Case (all Labour)

Lets see if they bother to reply.