Wimbledon Stadium: Some Important News

[Andy Wilko]

^{I sent the following to Stephen Alambritis and Boris Johnson at the end of July:-}

^{Plans for the redevelopment of Wimbledon Stadium}

^{I understand that there are two proposals for the redevelopment of Wimbledon Stadium in Plough Lane.}

^{I have been a regular user of the stadium since the mid-sixties (my school days) and since with my wife and family, particularly watching the world renowned Wimbledon Dons speedway team, as well as the car racing and greyhound racing.}

^{The stadium was of course built for speedway racing some 80+ years ago with the greyhound track being added soon after. Unfortunately speedway has been unable to run there for the last few years, it having to stop, not because of any financial reasons or lack of support, but because the owners of the stadium decided not to allow the sport there any longer. I know some regular users of the venue feel that by closing down the speedway usage of the stadium has diminished, giving more ammunition to those who want the stadium demolished and the sports facility removed.}

^{I am therefore writing in support of the proposal which will see a new state of the art greyhound stadium on the site, also able to accommodate speedway and car racing and a range of other sports as has been the case in the past, thus maintaining the site as a multi-use sports and recreational facility as designated by Merton Council.}

^{The three sports mentioned in this e-mail are all popular locally, and indeed nationwide, and it is a sad fact that without Wimbledon Stadium, London, our capital city, would have no venues where these sports could operate.}

^{Yours sincerely}

^{I have heard nothing from Merton, not even an acknowledgement, so will follow that up.}

^{However I did receive an immediate acknowledgement from the London Mayor's office (automated maybe) and have since received the following:-}

^{Dear Mr W}

 

^{Thank you for your email to the Mayor of London}

 

^{In January 2013 Merton Council consulted on the pre-submission version of its 'Sites and Policies' Development Plan Document. With respect to the site allocation for Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium the Mayor made the following comment:}

 

^{"Site 37 - Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium}

 

^{The suggested use of the site for substantial out of centre retail causes strategic policy concern and would not be in conformity with London Plan policy. The loss of the greyhound stadium use would also raise strategic policy concerns."}

 

^{The Council is now consulting on the Submission draft of this document. The allocated use of this site is now "Intensification of sporting activity (D2 Use Class) with supporting enabling development. Developments that facilitate more sporting activity may be enabled by more viable uses, subject to meeting planning policy, evidence and consultation".}

 

^{The consultation period ends on 30 August 2013 and Greater London Authority officers are currently preparing a response for the Mayor.}

 

^{Your support for the retention of the Greyhound Stadium is noted. You may wish to comment on Merton's document yourself. The details can be found here: http://www.merton.gov.uk/environment/planning/planningpolicy/ldf/sites_policies_plan.htm}

 

^{Any planning application on this site is likely to be referable to the Mayor. This means that initially he will be required to provide a statement of compliance with the London Plan. Once the Council has determined the application it will be referred back to the Mayor for a final decision. Given the Mayor's role in the determination of a future application he is unable to comment on the specific proposal put forward for a new stadium.}

 

^{Yours sincerely}

 

 

^{Ruth Phillips}

^{Public Liaison Unit}

^{Make of that what you will.}

 

 

 

[The Doctor...]

https://en-gb.facebo...location=stream

 

Time is running out in regard to sending emails to the Mayor of London and Merton Council in regard to Wimbledon Stadium. Above I have posted a Link to a Facebook campaign to save Wimbledon Stadium - which I note there is a message saying a closedown of Facebook might be imminent?

 

It says the page is closing down, not facebook

[salty]

Interesting update, but Feltham is an employee of the GRA, who as I understand, have different development plans for the Stadium. Surprised he is so positive about Taggarts plans.

Does anyone know how NAMA are involved in the Wimbledon situation?

[arthur cross]

Interesting update, but Feltham is an employee of the GRA, who as I understand, have different development plans for the Stadium. Surprised he is so positive about Taggarts plans.

Does anyone know how NAMA are involved in the Wimbledon situation?

 

It appears that either Risk Capital & Galliard Homes (or both) funded at least a sizeable chunk of their investment in the Greyhound Racing Association by borrowing the money from Irish banks at the peak of those banks' willingness to lend large amounts around a decade or slightly longer ago ... as I understand it, Risk Capital was born in 2001 and bought the GRA as part of a leisure portfolio of businesses, then it later emerged Risk had entered a partnership with Galliard Homes.

 

Since the property crash in Ireland, swiftly followed by the general financial crisis in 2008, those Irish banks (under a collective NAMA banner) have been very keen to speed up getting that money back from Risk/Galliard but have had to tread carefully in case they put too much pressure on Risk/Galliard and end up getting next-to-nothing back from a bankruptcy/liquidation.

 

Hence the Racing Post's reference to Risk/Galliard effectively acting as NAMA's agents ... that ties in with the belief for quite a few years now that any profits made at any of the GRA tracks (Wimbledon, Perry Barr, Hall Green & Belle Vue) have to be thrown at the Irish banks to keep them at arm's length instead of investing any of those profits back into the tracks' facilities or prize money.

 

As an example, Wimbledon probably get at least twice the Saturday-night average attendance compared to either of William Hill's two tracks, Sunderland and Newcastle ... however, all the grades of runners at Sund/Newc race for at least £110 winning prize-money whereas last weekend, the top-grade (A1) at Wimbledon was worth only £104 to the winner before a big drop to an A3 winner collecting £59 and the lowest-grade (A8) picking up a measly £43 ... I've got racecards from Wimbledon in the early 1990's and the dogs at that time were racing for bigger sums in that era !!

 

The long-held view within greyhound racing is that the crowds at Wimbledon's meetings are comfortably covering their day-to-day expenses (and probably even covering the extra overheads at such a hopelessly out-of-date venue) but any profits are only marking time with the Irish banks ... it's why Paschal Taggart or any bookmaking firm will have to pay an expensive price even if they're able to buy the site off Risk/Galliard because a hefty lump sum from selling the site appears the only way Risk/Galliard can speed up satisfying the Irish banks.

 

And that's an extra dimension to Merton Council's meeting on 11th September ... the council can decide what's allowed to be developed on the site in the future but they'll struggle to force private companies like Risk/Galliard to implement whatever gets the go-ahead if Risk/Galliard aren't happy with the financial arrangements ... ultimately, Merton Council themselves might have to sponsor an expensive deal with Risk/Galliard just to make any progress towards what the council would like to happen regardless of whether it's greyhounds/speedway, football/flats or totally residential.

Edited August 22, 2013 by arthur cross

[Sir Sidney]

I've e-mailed my message of support to the Mayor of London and to the leader of Merton Council. Let's see what happens on 11th. As Arthur Cross quite rightly points out Risk / Galliard will not necesarially implement the Council's preferred option.

[salty]

Been away for a few days, so only just seen Arthur Cross's post 149 outlining how NAMA got involved. Very interesting - Thank You.

So the great entrepeneur, Luke Johnson, and his cronies only got their hands on the GRA stadia by borrowing on what they thought were favourable terms. Probably expected to cash in on the land, but the economic downturn has left them stuck.

[Sir Sidney]

I think the Merton Planning meeting is this week - Wednesday maybe? We should get an indication of the Council's preferance.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

I'd suggest that the football plan is a rather outside bet...

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

I'll talk to Ian after the meeting - am sure he'll be able to feedback.

[Sir Sidney]

Just seen this on the Merton Council web site under 'Meetings of the Council'

 

http://www.merton.gov.uk/council/decision-making/committee.htm?view=event&event_id=3564

 

'Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium - Council meeting 11 September 2013

The council is aware that some residents may be under the false impression that a decision relating to Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium is on the agenda for this meeting.

Please note that the stadium is NOT on tonight's formal agenda and no decision will be made about this site at the meeting.

This is because the site's designation for "sporting intensification" was decided at the full council meeting on 10th July. This decision will now go to the Secretary of State for approval.

To date, no planning application(s) have been received from any parties who have expressed an interest in the greyhound site. If and when any planning application does come forward this would be dealt with by our Planning Applications Committee and subject to our usual planning consultation processes.'

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

Hmm, interesting....

Seems like this is probably good-ish news - will certainly be if the Sec of State approves.. Mind you, been a sporting site since the 1920s so in a way seems odd one has to apply to KEEP such a status..

[arthur cross]

This is the article that went into the greyhound section's Monday Column in the Racing Post at the start of the week ... Jim Cremin, now semi-retired, is the former greyhound editor of that paper having previously worked in the racing office at several top dog tracks.

 

http://www.racingpos...ww/1527233/top/

 

Sorry for not posting it sooner but it wasn't put onto the Racing Post website until late on Tuesday night (the paper's comment-style pieces are usually held back from the website for a day or two) and I'm just catching up now.

 

Following on from the posts "salty" & myself have swapped in recent days, you'll also see Jim Cremin refers to NAMA/Galliard as the owners of the site ... he's one of the two different Racing Post writers in the last few days who've blatantly identified NAMA (the collective debt-agency for Irish banks) as effectively having a direct ownership of the stadium via their long-standing debt-collecting pressure on Risk Capital and Galliard Homes to repay more of the multi-millions which were borrowed from Irish banks around a decade ago ... previously, NAMA had always been a lurking shadow in the background of Risk/Galliard's finances rather than having such an up-front identification.

 

With a big Sky night for greyhounds last night at the final of Sheffield's Steel City Cup competing for space in today's Racing Post with any news from the Merton Council meeting, it's most likely the main coverage of what happened at Merton Council will be in tomorrow's (Friday's) paper enabling today's reaction from all parties to be included along with anything that occured at last night's meeting.

Edited September 12, 2013 by arthur cross

[arthur cross]

Just an update: Wimbledon Stadium was not discussed at last night's (Wednesday) meeting.

 

While the Racing Post's Monday Column did confirm it wouldn't be a "decision night" at last night's Merton Council meeting, both that column and a further report from Jim Cremin in yesterday's paper was still strongly recommneding that this council meeting remained an important occasion for the future of Wimbledon greyhounds.

 

Cremin's article from yesterday hasn't yet appeared on the Racing Post website so I've typed it into this post so you can all see how the paper was previewing Merton Council's meeting yesterday morning ... in the light of gustix's update (and, as I write, the total absence of any news from the council meeting on betfair's greyhound forum), it may well be that the Racing Post has hyped up last night's occasion way beyond its true significance in the general scheme of things (maybe to keep itself in the good books of Paschal Taggart).

 

= = = = = = = = = =

 

For a start, the headline was "Wimbledon top of the agenda at council meeting" and then Jim Cremin's report went as follows ...

 

Diane McLean, the We Want Wimbledon campaigner, will tonight receive the answers to eight questions the WWW committee has posted to Merton Council at an eagerly awaited council meeting at Morden's Civic Centre (starts 7.15pm, open to the public).

 

The WWW questions put to the planning committee and council cabinet members were:

 

1) Has the committee, and have the councillors, taken into consideration the financial viability of AFC Wimbledon (the "club") actually paying for a football stadium to be built on the Plough Lane site through careful consideration of any costing or financial plans submitted by the club, if any have been submitted ?

 

2) Has the committee, and have the councillors, taken into account the effect on the local community of thousands of football fans descending on the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium site if permission to build a football stadium was granted, and the cost of policing matches ?

 

3) Has the committee, and have the councillors, considered the financial benefits, such as higher rates than currently it receives from the site, and the job opportunites for local residents (hundreds of interesting and well-paid jobs) which will benefit the borough under the proposed multi-sports complex plans of Paschal Taggart ?

 

4) Has the committee, and have the councillors, taken into consideration that the plans proposed by Paschal Taggart for a world-class greyhound stadium will bring thousands of tourists every year from all over the world into the borough bringing revenue to the council and local businesses ?

 

5) Has the committee, and have the councillors, taken into consideration that the plans of Paschal Taggart will not only transform what is an eyesore and embarrassment to the borough but will also provide a world-class greyhound stadium, international standard squash and fitness club and up to 500 subsidised secure parking spaces for staff at St George's NHS Hospital ?

 

6) Has the committee, and have the councillors, taken into consideration that not only has greyhound racing taken place at Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium since 1928 but that the prestigious William Hill Greyhound Derby has also taken place there since 1985 and that the prize money for the winner of the 2014 Derby has been set at £200,000 ?

 

7) Is the committee, and are the councillors, aware of the support for greyhound racing at Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium ?

 

8) The Mayor has shown his concern over the loss of the greyhound stadium on the site and is keen to retain greyhound racing in the capital. Given Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium is the last stadium in the capital shouldn't this form part of, and be written into, the Sites and Policies Development Plan Document ?

 

McLean said more than 3,000 separate e-mails of support have gone to Merton Council and the Mayor "plus there is a signed petition of 4,832, organised by Tony Gallagher of Greyhound Data".

 

She added: "Paschal and all those working so hard to secure a long-term future for Wimbledon would like to thank everyone who has helped so far - it is most heartening. It's also going to be interesting to see if there are other questions raised by any other groups."

 

McLean explained there will be no decisions as such taken, or debate held, and that tonight "is a taking of the temperature of where the council sees the future".

 

She added that last week she held a "positive" meeting with Cllr Stephen Alambritis, the leader of Merton Council, who "indicated that he appreciated the beneficial nature of our plans for the community as a whole. I took that as most encouraging."

 

= = = = = = = = = =

 

Various things to note from that article ... the local squash players and fitness fanatics as well as car-driving doctors and nurses are being included in the WWW-campaign's questions, but speedway isn't.

 

"The Mayor" refers to Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who like all the Merton councillors is only 8-months away from the next set of London local elections in May 2014 ... unlike much of the rest of the country (where there's a local election every May for separate portions of local council seats, usually meaning each individual council seat is contested every 3 years), the system in London is that every 4 years (easy to remember as World Cup football year), both the Mayor's election and the whole sweep of council seats across all 32 boroughs are contested in one go.

 

It means that if plenty of council seats change hands next May, any big council decisions taken in the next few weeks in Merton could sit very uneasily if enough of those new councillors don't like them and therefore don't want to implement them.

 

All in all, given the grip NAMA (the Irish banking debts agency) has on the current owners of Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, the lack of speed in any council decision-making and those looming elections next May, it makes me wonder if this whole saga won't make much progress any time soon.

 

As ever, I hope all the above info's useful.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

"The Mayor" refers to Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who like all the Merton councillors is only 8-months away from the next set of London local elections in May 2014 ... unlike much of the rest of the country (where there's a local election every May for separate portions of local council seats, usually meaning each individual council seat is contested every 3 years), the system in London is that every 4 years (easy to remember as World Cup football year), both the Mayor's election and the whole sweep of council seats across all 32 boroughs are contested in one go.

 

That's not correct actually. Though the London Council elections are indeed next year (May 2014), the election for the London Mayor is NOT in the same year. The London Mayoral election is not until 2016. So Boris is NOT up for re-election next year; though all of LB Merton's Cllrs are of course.

[arthur cross]

That's not correct actually. Though the London Council elections are indeed next year (May 2014), the election for the London Mayor is NOT in the same year. The London Mayoral election is not until 2016. So Boris is NOT up for re-election next year; though all of LB Merton's Cllrs are of course.

 

Oops ... I'd forgotten the Mayoral election is midway through the local councillors' term ... thanks for the correction.

 

Meanwhile, here's the report from Jim Cremin in today's Racing Post rounding up Wednesday night's Merton Council meeting ...

 

http://www.racingpost.com/news/greyhounds/merton-council-open-to-persuasion-over-wimbledon/1529228/top/

 

As usual, various things to note ... most significantly, Cllr Alambritis only refers to NAMA as the site's owners with no mention of Risk Capital or Galliard Homes which speaks volumes for who's now truly in charge of the Greyhound Racing Association.

 

With regard to Cllr Alambritis's reference to "greyhound racing, the AFC, rugby, whatever" eventually being the sport(s) at the site, the only rugby clubs I can think of who might be remotely interested (presumably in a partnership with AFC Wimbledon) are London Irish and London Welsh who've both moved from their traditional homes in recent years to football grounds at least 40 miles outside London in order to meet their sport's Premiership ground requirements.

 

London Irish used to play at Sunbury (just the other side of the start of the M3 from Kempton racecourse) but are now well-established by renting Reading's Madjeski Stadium ... London Welsh's ground at Old Deer Park (close to Richmond Park) was nowhere near Premiership standard so they used Oxford United's Kassam Stadium for their debut at the top level last season and they've chosen to stay there this season despite the relegation that meant they could have used Old Deer Park again.

 

There's no local rugby side attracting enough supporters to justify moving into a new stadium ... Wimbledon RFC play in the London-1-South division which is part of rugby's 6th-level where the crowd can easily be accommodated along the touchline.

 

Overall, I'd say the most fascinating angle (at Oxford as well as at Wimbledon) over the next few months is going to be the changing relationship between NAMA & Risk/Galliard rather than the continuing slow-process of any council matters.

[Mike.Butler]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24165559

[Chris Brown]

Seems AFC Wimbledon have a plan to develop Plough Lane for a football stadium in a joint deal with Galliard Homes (yes them again) and build an 111,000 stadium and 600 homes according to this report on the BBC Sport website

 

 

 

 

AFC Wimbledon submit proposal for Plough Lane stadium

 

AFC Wimbledon have submitted a proposal to redevelop Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium to Merton Council, which could see the club return to Plough Lane.

The Dons have submitted plans to build an 11,000-capacity stadium which could later be expanded to 20,000.

The club also propose building 600 homes in conjunction with Gaillard Homes as part of the redevelopment.

The original Wimbledon FC were forced to leave Plough Lane in 1991 following the publication of the Taylor Report.

The Taylor Report, published in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, recommended that all top-flight sides should play in all-seater stadia.

The original Wimbledon shared Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace until 2002, when they were given permission to move to Milton Keynes.

 

 

AFC Wimbledon, who were formed in response to the relocation, have played all their home games at Kingsmeadow and bought the ground from Kingstonian in March 2003.

The League Two club say the submission of their plans is "a significant step" in fulfilling its ambition to return to its traditional home in the London Borough of Merton.

Merton Council have also received other proposals for the future of the Greyhound Stadium as part of their "call for sites", which asked for suggestions for sites which have the potential for development or redevelopment within the borough.

One plan suggests constructing a new greyhound stadium on the land.

The Dons estimate construction costs for the first phase of the stadium to be in the region of £16m. Funds would be raised through a combination of the sale of naming rights for the new stadium, a community share issue and funds from enabling development.

AFC Wimbledon chief executive Erik Samuelson said: "There is a long way to go before our plans become a reality.

"Before we can submit a planning application, there are two significant hurdles that must be overcome.

"First, we must win the support of Merton Council for our proposal that the site should be developed as a football stadium.

"Second, the designation must be reviewed and approved by an independent inspector.

"The review will cover all the sites in Merton and it is likely that the result won't be known until about March 2014."

Edited September 19, 2013 by Chris Brown

[Blazeaway]

Unfortunately, and I say this as a Dons fan. This seems the most logical and likely of any plans for the redevelopment of the stadium.

[Triple.H.]

They will be talking about the proposed AFC move to plough lane on Talksport between now and 4pm

[mickthemuppet]

Big article in today's Telegraph saying Wimbledon(Football Team) going back to Plough Lane. It calls the present greyhound stadium a fading hodgepodge of tumbledown stands. There is no mention of Speedway in the large article, either past or future. It says this will be a community asset and will transfon the borough with things like street gyms to entertainment suites that people will want to use every day.