Brandon Speedway Agents Tight-lipped On Whether Coventry City Are Bidding For Site For Stadium

[Dave J]

Taken from Coventry Teegraph website 06/06/2013

http://www.coventryt...-agents-4065441

 

 

PROPERTY agents dealing with a sale of the Brandon Stadium site are staying tight-lipped on whether Coventry City are bidding to build a stadium there.

Meanwhile, organisations managing the sale of two other sites being speculated over – the former Peugeot site at Ryton-On-Dunsmore, and Ansty Park near Walsgrave – have told the Telegraph no approach has been made by the football club.

Sisu-owned Coventry City Football Club (Holdings) Limited claims to be close to a deal to buy land for a new stadium – having looked at several unnamed sites in the “Coventry area”, but outside the city.

Holdings has claimed the preferred site is closer to the city centre than the Ricoh Arena, but just outside the administrative boundary of Coventry City Council - which has been in dispute with Holdings over Ricoh rent and ownership of the stadium it half owns.

Holdings’ chief executive Tim Fisher recently told the London Supporters’ Club the club was looking at brownfield sites, which might require a change of use.

Andrew Moss, of GVA in Birmingham, which is marketing the Brandon Coventry Bees stadium site, told the Telegraph he could not comment on whether the football club had made an approach.

He added: “A number of bids are currently being considered by the vendor (site owner Avtar Sandhu).

“We’re awaiting further instructions. Hopefully by tomorrow we’ll have a better indication.

“We may then go back to a number of top bidders in a ‘best and final’ scenario.

“We may have a shortlist next week. It depends which way the vendor wants to go with it.”

He said a possible timescale would be agreeing heads of terms with a preferred purchaser by mid-June, with an exchange of contracts in mid-July or mid-August.

He said it was hoped a sale could be concluded by the end of the year at the latest.

Many fans have speculated over the former Peugeot factory site at Ryton, which is close to the Sky Blues’ training ground.

But Chris Hall, director of Trenport Investments, said he was unaware of any approach by the football club for the remainder of the site on the A45.

He added: “It there was one, I ought to know, as I am dealing with all planning matters. No-one has spoken to me about such an idea.”

The company is seeking outline planning permission for employment site for the remaining site C - expected to be warehousing and “light industrial” units. Sites A and B were sold to Prologis.

Steve Holland, of the Homes and Communities Agency, which is marketing Ansty Park, the former Advantage West Midlands large employment site long earmarked for up to 10,000 advanced manufacturing jobs, said: “We’ve had no approach from Coventry City Football Club .

“We’d struggle with a stadium on the site. We have (planning) restrictions for research and development. It would require a change of use.

“This is a national asset. The government have invested in it for research and development. Otherwise we would have sold it years ago for distribution.”

Sky Blues boss Mr Fisher has been explaining plans to build a stadium in potentially three years.

In the meantime, the club would play outside the city with a groundsharing arrangement, with widespread speculation that Walsall’s Banks’s stadium is the preferred option.

The plan would have to be agreed by the Football League, where a board meeting yesterday was expected to hear an update on Coventry City’s administration process.

The new stadium plan is also dependent on the Football League allowing Holdings, or any Sisu-related company, to continue running the football club after it exits administration. Paul Appleton, the administrator for subsidiary company Coventry City Football Club Ltd, is expected to select a preferred bidder for the club for eight interested parties some time after tomorrow deadline for indicative bids.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Dave J

[Woz01]

Not going to happen for a number of reasons.

 

1, The current 'owners' might not own the club in a few weeks as the deadline to place bids to buy the club is tomorrow. Even id their bid was somehow excepted then they will have to pass the FL fit and proper test. I dont think the FL will let them re buy the club.

 

2, planning permission will surely fail? Sandhu has had plans to build stands and turnstiles rejected by the local council. The main issue is access to the site. Also i doubt local residents would want 12,000 football fans taking over their village every other week.

[foamfence]

Not going to happen for a number of reasons.

 

1, The current 'owners' might not own the club in a few weeks as the deadline to place bids to buy the club is tomorrow. Even id their bid was somehow excepted then they will have to pass the FL fit and proper test. I dont think the FL will let them re buy the club.

 

2, planning permission will surely fail? Sandhu has had plans to build stands and turnstiles rejected by the local council. The main issue is access to the site. Also i doubt local residents would want 12,000 football fans taking over their village every other week.

But Sandhu claims to have other offers on the table, what plans are they likely to have?

[speedibee]

No cause for alarm here , the Bspa have matters in hand and rather than see the flagship stadium of speedway lost to the sport they are putting together a bid to secure the venue for the sport in the future . A spokesman for the Bspa today can be quoted as saying due to the central location and having planning permission to operate 7 days a week , which would facilitate a centre of excellence for the next generation of british riders they felt that a joint purchase by speedway's controlling body was the best way to push the sport forward .. Only joking ! when questioned the bspa spokesman responded by asking what stadium is about to be sold from under our noses Coventry ? well I never , thats a shame ..

Edited June 6, 2013 by speedibee

[LagutaRacingFan]

No cause for alarm here , the Bspa have matters in hand and rather than see the flagship stadium of speedway lost to the sport they are putting together a bid to secure the venue for the sport in the future . A spokesman for the Bspa today can be quoted as saying due to the central location and having planning permission to operate 7 days a week , which would facilitate a centre of excellence for the next generation of british riders they felt that a joint purchase by speedway's controlling body was the best way to push the sport forward .. Only joking ! when questioned the bspa spokesman responded by asking what stadium is about to be sold from under our noses Coventry ? well I never , thats a shame ..

 

If Sandhu wants to sell the stadium, What do you want the BSPA to do?

Maybe you should vent your frustration and anger towards Sandhu rather than the BSPA, A joint purchase? With who's money?

[Woz01]

But Sandhu claims to have other offers on the table, what plans are they likely to have?

 

I think whoever buys it will buy it as a motorsport stadium and not land. Its quite well known that the local council are quite adament that the land cannot be used for housing/supermarket. The road access is just to narrow for anything else.

[MattK]

I think whoever buys it will buy it as a motorsport stadium and not land. Its quite well known that the local council are quite adament that the land cannot be used for housing/supermarket. The road access is just to narrow for anything else.

 

It's being sold as "Redevelopment potential" so the agent clearly thinks differently.

[BuckTaylor64]

 

 

Not going to happen for a number of reasons.

 

1, The current 'owners' might not own the club in a few weeks as the deadline to place bids to buy the club is tomorrow. Even id their bid was somehow excepted then they will have to pass the FL fit and proper test. I dont think the FL will let them re buy the club.

 

2, planning permission will surely fail? Sandhu has had plans to build stands and turnstiles rejected by the local council. The main issue is access to the site. Also i doubt local residents would want 12,000 football fans taking over their village every other week.

 

Well turnstiles and new stands will surely win at appeal! Ridiculous decision.

 

It is a sports stadium and if this went to a public enquiry the football club would win easily! The access is far better than a lot of grounds!

[CB252]

It is a sports stadium and if this went to a public enquiry the football club would win easily! The access is far better than a lot of grounds!

 

Can only hope you're wrong if CCFC do have a genuine interest in the site.

 

The good people of Brandon & Binley Woods don't deserve to have the value of their properties halved, let alone 10,000 football retards abandoning their cars all around the area every other Saturday, not to mention the inevitable violence and other ridiculous behaviour that walks hand in hand with football.

[Woz01]

 

 

It's being sold as "Redevelopment potential" so the agent clearly thinks differently.

 

Key word potential. Why would Sandhu sell if he could build houses or improve the stadium? He has failed in his bids so now wants to sell up. They would have to build an entirely new road behind the stadium for any development.

[Woz01]

 

 

Well turnstiles and new stands will surely win at appeal! Ridiculous decision.

 

It is a sports stadium and if this went to a public enquiry the football club would win easily! The access is far better than a lot of grounds!

 

The Ricoh almost lost planning permission for traffic issues, it has a dual carrigeway running along side it and M6 motorway a mile away. If CCFC were to move to Brandom a whole new road would have to be built behind the stadium. The plans are to start with a 12k stadium then expand if/when promoted to 20k+. The infrastructure around the whole area will not handle that.

[190557]

Harry Findlay still has four years left on his current unrestricted lease to run the Greyhound business. I don't know how long the Speedway lease has to run but I suspect it may only be on an annual basis.

 

This may mean that any purchaser could not start work on demolishing the existing stadium and building a new one until 2017 at the earliest even if planning consent was obtained. This could mean CCFC playing outside of Coventry for some 5/6 years. That would be a non starter in my opinion.

[SCB]

Harry Findlay still has four years left on his current unrestricted lease to run the Greyhound business. I don't know how long the Speedway lease has to run but I suspect it may only be on an annual basis.

Surely in the scheme of things, someones lease to run the greyhounds is a minor issue. Few quid and I'm sure he'd go away and leave them to build their new stadium. The issue is planning and I just don't see that changing.

[BuckTaylor64]

To refuse on traffic issues has to have the backing of a Highways engineer! The stadium has hosted 10k in the past!

 

 

 

Can only hope you're wrong if CCFC do have a genuine interest in the site.

 

The good people of Brandon & Binley Woods don't deserve to have the value of their properties halved, let alone 10,000 football retards abandoning their cars all around the area every other Saturday, not to mention the inevitable violence and other ridiculous behaviour that walks hand in hand with football.

 

The majority of football fans are well behaved. I can recall cars being parked all over during British Final days!

[foamfence]

To refuse on traffic issues has to have the backing of a Highways engineer! The stadium has hosted 10k in the past!

 

 

 

The majority of football fans are well behaved. I can recall cars being parked all over during British Final days!

It only takes a small minority.

[Mr Ore]

To refuse on traffic issues has to have the backing of a Highways engineer! The stadium has hosted 10k in the past!

 

 

 

The majority of football fans are well behaved. I can recall cars being parked all over during British Final days!

It only takes a small minority.

 

There were more retards sat in the row behind me in Cardiff on Saturday than I saw in the whole of the last football season combined. At least I now know that Chris Harris is a Firkin Count as we were all advised every time he raced. Must be some reference to him owning a brewery I suppose.

[ouch]

I got the impression Chris held a narrow lead over his opponents as they kept shouting "you're a foot in front".

[mickthemuppet]

Harry Findlay still has four years left on his current unrestricted lease to run the Greyhound business. I don't know how long the Speedway lease has to run but I suspect it may only be on an annual basis.

 

 

Did not Reading Speedway have a 99 year lease on their stadium? So four years does not amount to a hill of beans

[MattK]

Key word potential. Why would Sandhu sell if he could build houses or improve the stadium? He has failed in his bids so now wants to sell up. They would have to build an entirely new road behind the stadium for any development.

 

Any number of reasons. Maybe he wants to cash out, maybe he has other debts, maybe he doesn't have the upfront cash required to build houses?

 

I wouldn't put too much importance on historic planning outcomes. Nowadays, councils and locals have very little say in decisions and as long the plans meet the legal framework.

 

Don't forget, both major political parties have emphasised house building as a way to boost the economy and to help ease the pressure on social housing.

 

For a case in point, Swindon Council rejected plans to build 900 houses near a place called Coate Water, which is a local water park and beauty point. There was a petition with over 50,000 signatures (including Ant and Dec!) and yet permission was granted by the Planning Inspectorate.

[KevH]

Did not Reading Speedway have a 99 year lease on their stadium? So four years does not amount to a hill of beans

Originally they did, but I believe it was renegotiated during the Pat Bliss era.