Through the past darkly : Thu Oct 26, 2017 8:24 am
I have been following this saga for years without becoming involved and I thought I had some grasp on the situation, but clearly not. So, can anyone help me to understand what is going on.As I see it:
- The Council were able to fulfil their duties by allowing Yorkcourt to develop Newmarket with a Community Planning Gain of a stadium and community facilities. This was ratified by the SoS with a S106 to allow the Council to manage the process and ensure compliance by Yorkcourt.
- Failure by WMDC to properly manage the S106 has led to an impasse with Yorkcourt.
- All involvement by Box seems to be deliberately working against the City and the Club. His statements that the 106 was between the developer and the club, bringing in Walker and the false Trust, asking MC to keep out of the bidding for Belle Vue all strike of there being an ulterior motive but surely there isn't enough personal financial gain available to make this worthwhile and even less if Walker gets his snout in the trough.
- The Belle Vue development had the benefits of kickstarting the process, provided 88M with a focal point for their development, showed the Council in a positive light (even if only a flickering candle) and achieved progress on Newmarket's commercial site which has stalled due to Council mismanagement.
- Financially the development will be funded by the Council raising funds in The City in the same way Leeds Council has done for Headingley and they can place a charge against Yorkcourt to gain repayment from future developments. Additionally, there is the £2m granted by the Council and contribution from 88M for their planning gain. Presumably, Trinity will have to pay for the fixtures and fittings within the Stadium.
- The Stadium will be owned by 88M and a 99 year lease granted to the Community Trust to manage the stadium for the benefit of the City of Wakefield. Trinity will be sub tenants (anchor tenants) and need to be able to make a viable business within the stadium.
- A figure of £100000 annual rent has been mentioned and seems to be a sticking point but surely this is not an unreasonable figure as the Trust would have to fund:-
Insurance
Stadium maintenance and cleaning
Stewarding
Pitch maintenance
Create a fund for future development and extension of the stadium
Pay for staffing to manage this process.
Am I missing something?