I think someone is making something up for their own gain. Why bid on an area of land you do not know you will be able to develop be it a mosque or a supermarket. The ground was approved for housing only plus you would be looking to remove an existing tenant, not that easy.
I will therefore remain sceptical about the mosque development on the BV/ superbowl site until I see hard evidence to confirm this.
I suppose a little council bashing keeps some happy.

Back in February on the “Stadium for Sale” thread I posted a light hearted solution.



I think I should be careful what I wish for

.

St Catherine Church doesn't stop building a decent east stand

How does a Mosque then?

I think we are talking location rather than religious beliefs

It wouldn't but it would certainly cause problems in terms of parking or other possible plans for the land, where as the church is where it is and not in the way.

Wouldn't it be more to do with not being able to build backwards to Donny road, so not allowing for sufficient foundations to build upwards?
Anyone know.
1. Have "we" put in a bid?
3. If so who is we?
3. Who is financing these two purchases as the council seem to be distancing themselves from the issue.
4. If the club/trust/Yorkcourt do intend buying the Super Bowl, Will this be demolished and a car park laid? Or will the SB be used as a facility by the club? Weddings? Match day hospitality?

Because the Super Bowl is right behind the east stand

When do offers get accepted on commercial purchases? If the last day of bids was Friday I'd be hoping we'd be hearing something soon.

If there are conflicting plans.
One for a rugby ground and the other for a Mosque & education centre, the mosque will be looked on more favourably.
A rugby club cant play the "race" card, which will inevitably be used is the mosque doesn't get the go ahead.

Some people might like to believe that, because its powerful fuel for a particular agenda, but I don't believe that race or religion is a material consideration in planning law.

If it comes to the seller - I don't suppose they give a tom tit who they sell it to; they'll just want the best price.

Well MC has said on Yorkshire Radio Belle Vue has just been granted community value status which is good news for us

And also good news for the residents of Agbrigg and Belle Vue?

Indeed, it depends on who the other bidder is. Given that the two bidders could both possibly be classified as 'community groups' then the ACV wouldn't make much difference in reality. In fact if anything it could slow the process down by a few months and means the superbowl site is more ripe for picking for those with funds ready to go whilst there is inertia on buying the ground. If it is a commercial buyer then the ACV will help a little but there is no obligation for the bank to sell to us, it will still go to the highest bidder.

Question is i suppose should another buyer seal the purchase of the superbowl etc in the meantime it is it worth buying Belle Vue anyway if the chance to develop it is so limited? Or do we take the view that any move to have the ground in our name is good even if it does mean officially giving up on Newmarket once and for all?

You are quite right about seller only being interested in price, I agree with that.

However, if this becomes any kind of political football, with the local council having significant input, I stand by my point and we already know that our council leader doesn't give a damn about Wakefield Trinity but, there aren't too many politicians (of any party) that would want to ruffle the feathers of the ethnic community.

I don't think they'd get involved in any meaningful way; what value to an ambitious politician to come down on either side? They couldn't care less about a mosque or a RL club in reality - so all they offer are the same pointless social media platitudes we got from some about Newmarket - which sound like they're supporting the project, but actually mean nothing at all.

No politician will show support to a project until there are shovels in the ground - at which point it's a done deal and they can't therefore be criticised for favouring one minority interest group over another.

And what does "community value status" entail? What does it mean to the club?

It makes it harder for the owner to sell it for purely commercial purposes and introduces delays to any sale, to allow community groups the opportunity to raise the funds to make the purchase.

The effect of the listing is that as the Bank of Ireland has decided to sell Belle Vue they must inform the Council of their intention to sell. This then triggers a 6 week moratorium period during which time The Trust decide whether they would like to place a bid. If we do then a 6 months moratorium period is launched. After this time the Bank can sell to anyone they wish. The Bank however may sell to the Trust during this moratorium period.

What it does is give the Trust up to 6 months to agree a purchase of Belle Vue. Something it would not have if Belle Vue had not been listed as an ACV.

I thought the bid process was already done and dusted?

One significant problem for the ground if a mosque is built is that Friday prayers are a focal point of the Muslim week, and there are prayer meetings until late in the evening due to the obligation to pray five times a day. There would be difficulties perhaps in the mosque if the Friday prayers were disrupted by a noisy beer-swilling crowd literally yards away, alongside the parking and congestion issues. It would end Friday games, and commercially they can be quite good. I don't think they could co-exist for those reasons alone. It would also increase the risk of tensions around the ground as people enter and leave, particularly if they are tanked up.

There is no real political advantage for local politicians in throwing weight behind a mosque, other than a councillor in that specific ward (and there would be nothing wrong with that, as that person is elected to represent their interests, which would involve a mosque more than it would a rugby ground catering for people mainly outside that ward), as Wakefield does not have a significant enough muslim population to gain votes from, certainly compared to other West Yorkshire towns and to the potential alienation of quite a few thousand Trinity fans (I work on the assumption that there are many with Trinity sympathies, even though they don't attend games).

This obviously also counts for any other community group as well, not just the trust. If there is more than one then it will come down to who has the fattest wallet.

Why would it end Friday games? Why not say that the building of a Mosque would end Rugby at Belle Vue.

It would apply to any community group but the application to list Belle Vue was made because of its and Wakefield Trinity's value to the local community and I believe that any community group making a bid during the 6 months would have to make the bid on the basis of retaining Belle Vue for its current purpose and retaining Wakefield Trinity. It would defeat the object of the listing if anyone could bid for a change of use on the back of them being a community group.

Also don't forget that anyone bidding for Belle Vue (ACV or not) has to adhere to Condition 38 of the current planning consent for housing which prevents any demolition or development until a stadium has been built at Newmarket. If anyone applies for another use then Condition 38 would be imposed on any consent if it were to be granted.

Just a word of caution. The current owner can request that the Council reviews its decision and if unsuccessful it it can appral the decision but again that all will take time. Also its worth noting that The Kassam Stadium was listed by Oxford Council and the owners fought the listing in the Courts and lost which prompted the Glazers to withdraw their legal challenge to the listing of Old Trafford.

Look on this as a positive step and now the Trust has some time to try and secure a deal.

Could turn out to be another long drawn out saga