Swindon Stadium

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

Slight change of track but I went to Somerset on Friday and went on to the oak tree arena site, they have a greggs, McDonald’s, screwfix and ford  to the right as you drive in off the main road now and the old bar on the first bend is an energy company’s office now but they havent touched where the track was,you can still see the outline on google earth, so why couldn’t they have kept the speedway there ? 

[piston197]

Swindon Speedway: Public react to plans for new stadium

[orion]

1 hour ago, piston197 said:

Swindon Speedway: Public react to plans for new stadium

Really Poor Article. Fails to mention any of the concerns the fans have about Gaming int. Running Nl speedway at the Abbey the same as wants to run at the new venue would have been viable .its garbage to say otherwise .

 

[piston197]

55 minutes ago, orion said:

Really Poor Article. Fails to mention any of the concerns the fans have about Gaming int. Running Nl speedway at the Abbey the same as wants to run at the new venue would have been viable .its garbage to say otherwise .

 

Totally agree, it will never happen, all smoke and mirrors, the "promised land myth" which will allow the destruction of Abbey stadium and the building of more houses, before the completion of Wroughton gets near, don't doubt they will start the process to give the council a glimpse, but it is unlikely ever to stage a race, there is more duplicity in this new stadium scenario than in Rachel Reeves's CV

[The White Knight]

2 hours ago, piston197 said:

Totally agree, it will never happen, all smoke and mirrors, the "promised land myth" which will allow the destruction of Abbey stadium and the building of more houses, before the completion of Wroughton gets near, don't doubt they will start the process to give the council a glimpse, but it is unlikely ever to stage a race, there is more duplicity in this new stadium scenario than in Rachel Reeves's CV

Sadly, from what I have read on here, you may well be right.

For what it's worth, I sincerely hope that the 'Robins' fans will not be let down again.

[noggin]

On 2/15/2025 at 12:10 PM, orion said:

Of course the reaction would have been positive if CO was not involved but on the other hand it offers no hope if he is involved ..its not hard to follow plus most of the fans don't want them to make them let them stupid again.Then of course supported this also helps him knock the Abbey down what of course is the end game No one wants to be part of that 

If osbourne wasn't involved we would still have the Abbey, and no homes surrounding it.

[1 valve]

On 2/17/2025 at 5:44 PM, SpeedwayJoe said:

Forgot to add, did anyone attend the public exhibition on Saturday 15th?

It would be interesting to know what the project team said.

Anybody? 
Would be especially good to hear from the "Swindon speedway group" mentioned in the interview.

[Chris]

https://www.swindon-needs-speedway.com/news

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

Is there is a loophole in the planning laws ?if you have a piece of land like a field and you want planning permission to build houses or industrial buildings on that land and no matter how much you try you can’t get permission to do so because it’s green belt but they will give you permission to build a sport track/facility on it so you build that facility and use it for a few years and then deem it not financially viable so shut it down and then reapply for planning saying it’s now not green belt land anymore as it has a sport facility on it, this would make sense to what happened at Somerset 

[1 valve]

On 2/17/2025 at 7:53 PM, orion said:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B7Goc4tqd/    if you 9 mins to waste 

 

 

it was an interesting listen
Clearly an opportunity to put a positive Spin on the proposal. But quite easy to see between the lines spoken
A few of the concerns I would have.
1. The statement that houses could not be built on the land is wrong. Previous landfill sites require capping and a methane monitoring system to be installed after which house can be built. This extra cost can be prohibitive, hence the lower cost alternative to build commercial properties can be more appealing. 
2. The land will still be owned by a third party and the sports operators will need to an annual lease most probably on a monthly basis. Granted, the initial lease could be scaled from initially being very low whilst the facility is developed to the level where income is generated. Although very doubtful income from NDL and training fees would be sufficient.  
3. Car parking for 200 cars for a stadium intended to hold 3000 will not pass planning. There will need to be additional parking facilities nearby. Example Leicester where in addition to the stadium car park there is agreement with adjacent shopping center for use of their car park.
4.The restoration of a grade two listed building in a state of dilapidation is costly to complete and such expenditure will be diverted away from the investment into the stadium facility.  Interesting that the proposed use would be for offices once the restoration is completed.  
5. The inclusion of small industrial units will  create revenue for the leaseholders presuming that the ground lease allows for sub-letting of such units. which is certainly a pre-requisite with no limits to the number of units that can be built.

Conclusion. 
Whilst it would be great to see speedway return to the Swindon area and go from strength to strength, A more likely outcome (especially considering who the protagonists are) is that, 
a) Planning application will be rejected on the ground's of insufficient parking.
b) The land will be developed fully for industrial units/ offices - both of which will provide significant income for the leaseholders far greater than what running a speedway stadium ever can do.    

I hope I am wrong.

  

[1 valve]

37 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Is there is a loophole in the planning laws ?if you have a piece of land like a field and you want planning permission to build houses or industrial buildings on that land and no matter how much you try you can’t get permission to do so because it’s green belt but they will give you permission to build a sport track/facility on it so you build that facility and use it for a few years and then deem it not financially viable so shut it down and then reapply for planning saying it’s now not green belt land anymore as it has a sport facility on it, this would make sense to what happened at Somerset 

Well, it could be an argument, as most development in the Green Belt is prohibited, with some exceptions for agriculture and leisure. 
However, a former landfill site cannot be classed as Green Belt- even if it is currently a "green field".
 

Edited 5 hours ago by 1 valve

[orion]

1 hour ago, 1 valve said:

it was an interesting listen
Clearly an opportunity to put a positive Spin on the proposal. But quite easy to see between the lines spoken
A few of the concerns I would have.
1. The statement that houses could not be built on the land is wrong. Previous landfill sites require capping and a methane monitoring system to be installed after which house can be built. This extra cost can be prohibitive, hence the lower cost alternative to build commercial properties can be more appealing. 
2. The land will still be owned by a third party and the sports operators will need to an annual lease most probably on a monthly basis. Granted, the initial lease could be scaled from initially being very low whilst the facility is developed to the level where income is generated. Although very doubtful income from NDL and training fees would be sufficient.  
3. Car parking for 200 cars for a stadium intended to hold 3000 will not pass planning. There will need to be additional parking facilities nearby. Example Leicester where in addition to the stadium car park there is agreement with adjacent shopping center for use of their car park.
4.The restoration of a grade two listed building in a state of dilapidation is costly to complete and such expenditure will be diverted away from the investment into the stadium facility.  Interesting that the proposed use would be for offices once the restoration is completed.  
5. The inclusion of small industrial units will  create revenue for the leaseholders presuming that the ground lease allows for sub-letting of such units. which is certainly a pre-requisite with no limits to the number of units that can be built.

Conclusion. 
Whilst it would be great to see speedway return to the Swindon area and go from strength to strength, A more likely outcome (especially considering who the protagonists are) is that, 
a) Planning application will be rejected on the ground's of insufficient parking.
b) The land will be developed fully for industrial units/ offices - both of which will provide significant income for the leaseholders far greater than what running a speedway stadium ever can do.    

I hope I am wrong.

  

Great Summary.As normal  with Gaming they  submit something that  is designed to fail . As I keep saying why on earth would gaming want to open a multi purpose motorsport complex .These are ruthless business people there has to be a massive gain for them somewhere down the line