I thought Yorkcourt could apply a number of different planning applications for the NM development, none of which would go toward the achieving the requisite square metres of enabling development before construction of the stadium had to start? If so effectively they would never reach the target.

The labour leader was ousted by the torys and lib dems, now the minority torys lead the council, with other opposition party's, living in Halifax always thought the council lacking

The labour leader was ousted by the torys and lib dems, now the minority torys lead the council, with other opposition party's, living in Halifax always thought the council lacking

Given that Yorkcourt are extremely short of pots to do their proverbials in then the likelihood of getting anything out of them other than constant BS is slim to none. Newmarket is dead. An upgrade of Belle Vue? Highly unlikely to be anything of real significance without somehow acquiring some other significant outside funding from somewhere, which is unlikely at this stage i would imagine. It certainly won't be from the council, that ship has sailed.

There was the 'built out' clause, so theoretically the developer could build a percentage of the site just short of the trigger point and never have to build the stadium. The rest of the land could then just lie idle for a few years until it was all forgotten about and an application vould be put in the remove the clause. It would then likely be developed for industrial units.

Now I'm no expert on property develop but as I understand it from the numerous meetings I've been to it's nowhere near as simple as you make out so I suspect some educated guessing on your part.

Anyway it's nothing to do with pots to pee in for YC. It as far as I can tell works like this. YC wanted the development to work as we did to think they didn't is stupid. But it hasn't and now YC need a plan B which they rather wisely wrote in.

So now they can get their money back though not as much as hoped on a smaller development much more quickly. The leverage the trust holds is the ability to make a large chunk of NM dead real estate. What YC want is to keep that land and free it of restrictions and when NM is up and running and successful as I'm sure it will be sell it on at the top of the market - easy money and costing YC far less than any alternatives.

What Rodney Walker and YC have to come to an arrangement over is what the Trust walking away from NM is worth - and that is quite literally the million dollar question.

Of course YC will need to borrow the money because they won't have the cash themselves that is for certain and where you are probably 100% correct. It's a case of whether they can and whether it's worth it for them and on that none of us know fore sure - but it's a good investment for someone that's for sure. It's like selling anything, if only one person wants it they have the advantage, if more than one are really interested then the seller has the whip hand and again I really don't know the situation and neither do you.

It's worth noting that the revamp of BV was not actually pushed by YC it was an idea floated by a few that found it's way into the Express and forced everyones hand - Rodney Walker as we all know is hugely experienced in these matter so one hope he knows what he is doing.

NM by the way isn't dead and never has been and this is the myth. The problem is nobody can see a way in the current economic climate where it can actually happen for at least 6 years if not more - that is the problem and thus the chances of it being built are about 1%. How this came to be is another matter.

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Sixtogo, good post



However I think its now well documented that MC and his board always wanted NM as the preferred option. When the truth all comes out I think we will find the seeds of a cheaper development back at Belle Vue were sown by other person(s).
MC being a realist obviously believed NM was never going to happen but had no alternative than to salvage what he could and go along with the Belle Vue option.

My apologies, got carried away. I realise that a significant amount of funding for the Hepworth was from grants, but there was also a decent amount from WMDC including the money from the sale of Yeadon Airport. I am very happy with the profile the facility gives the City, but then I am also proud of the profile that a certain RL club has given as well!

The point is that they can find funds when they want to, which suggest they don't want to with regard to a stadium that is supposedly largely funded from a development they led us to because they had already failed to provide the funds for a stadium they were going to build.

From fully built stadium to zero, at the stage, this is where we are with our beloved council. Add that to the failure to ensure that the 106 provided the safeguards to provide the funding for the stadium and I think we can see a general level of incompetence that others can only aspire to.

Our stadium, including even what we have now, is under threat. We are working on it and we may need your support to help protect it. More meetings are planned.

As for Yorkcourt, well....

Nothing is inked in, nothing written out at this time.

That was also my point when I made the initial comparison. I like you am in admiration of the Hepworth, it was just unfortunate that it was ideal example to highlight the council duplicity. I hope Bren can forgive us but realise we were well meaning

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.