Falmer article in today's Times

[Hunting 784561]

Falmer article in today's the Times :

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1134571,00.html





I wish they would shut up and go away....

 

[alan partridge]

link ain't working mate

 

[Hunting 784561]

oops



BRITAIN’S most cherished beauty spots will be under threat if plans to build a football stadium near Brighton are approved by John Prescott, environmentalists said last night.

The proposed stadium site — a wheatfield fringed with woodland at Falmer — not only falls within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), but is also part of an emerging National Park.



National Park status is the highest level of protection that can be bestowed on valuable land. Environmental experts fear that if the stadium goes ahead, it will pave the way for mass development in the 11 National Parks in England and Wales.

“If an emerging National Park can be sacrificed in this way, then none of the countryside is safe,” Julie Stainton, of the Council to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said. “It would set a dangerous and damaging precedent. It would open the floodgates. Although they plan to sink the stadium into the ground, it would still be eight storeys high. The damage would be immeasurable.”

The stadium is meant to be a sleek, modern ground for Brighton and Hove Albion, who have been homeless since the Goldstone Ground, their former base, was sold in 1997. At present Brighton play their home matches at the 7,000-seat Withdean Stadium, by design an athletics facility.

Brighton say that Withdean is far too small for a club that could attract 20,000 or more to home games at the Goldstone, where the record attendance was 36,747. More than 30,000 fans travelled to Cardiff to watch Brighton return last week to the Nationwide League first division in a play-off against Bristol City.

Dick Knight, the Brighton chairman, said last night:

“Effectively 23,000 fans are permanently locked out of seeing Brighton play live. It (Withdean) is ludicrously inadequate.

“The only viable site is Falmer. There is absolutely no alternative. It is near to some beautiful Downs, but it is not a beautiful field. We need the answer to be ‘yes’. Why should Brighton be penalised for its geography? Even the Deputy Prime Minister’s constituency (Hull East) has a modern stadium.

“There are only about 200 people in Falmer. If you live in a democracy, the wishes of literally hundreds of thousands of people should be allowed to prevail. It does not involve concreting over the Downs. There is a chance that we will go under if we don’t get the stadium.”

Although the stadium plan enjoys widespread support in Brighton, villagers living on the edge of the proposed site are strongly opposed to it. Residents in Falmer fear that the stadium would bring noise, pollution and severe congestion. They are also worried that there would be rapid expansion of the stadium to help to cover costs.

“The saddest thing is that in a couple of years there will not be enough money, so they will build a hotel, driving range, shops or a cinema to keep it afloat,” Richard Allden, a local CPRE officer, said.

No date has been set for the Deputy Prime Minister to make his decision and the paperwork is still sitting in his in-tray.

His office has been deluged with thousands of messages of support for the stadium project from football fans and celebrities including Sven- Göran Eriksson, the England head coach, Des Lynam, the broadcaster and perhaps the club’s most well-known supporter, and Norman Cook, aka the DJ Fat Boy Slim.

Mr Cook, who is a director of the club, told The Times: “It is a windswept part of the South Downs. It is not an area of outstanding beauty. It is an ideal place for the stadium. I did not know that the land was farmed, but I am sure we can find a way to make it up to him (the farmer).

“Wherever you put up a stadium, it is going to inconvenience somebody. It is a case of the needs of the many versus the needs of the few.”

Mr Prescott is understood to be awaiting the results of a public inquiry into the protected status of the South Downs site before making his decision.

The Countryside Agency has agreed in principle to designate the area a National Park. When the inquiry closes in the autumn, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will make the final decision.

 

[dougdeep]

What woodlands that then?

 

[Mendoza]

The proposed stadium site — a wheatfield fringed with woodland at Falmer — not only falls within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), but is also part of an emerging National Park.

?
i may be a bit bias here but come on, it is a muddy field with a few carrier bags in it. and as for surrounded with woodland. there are a couple of overgrown bushes, a dual carriage way, a railway, a university building and a overpriced gym.

 

[Curious Orange]

Hmm, I can feel some corrections coming on here.

1) The site isn't surrounded by woodlands - it is surrounded by a University to the West, a railway and dual carriageway to the North, a gym to the East, and another fallow field to the South.
2) The site isn't within the proposed National Park.
3) The site is due to be de-designated as an AONB once the National Park comes into being.
4) There is no room on the site for any of the speculated "future developments".

Anyone got an e-mail address for the Times so I can point out their journalistic oversights?

 

[Rangdo]

Residents in Falmer fear that the stadium would bring noise, pollution and severe congestion. They are also worried that there would be rapid expansion of the stadium to help to cover costs.

I doubt you'll be able to hear any noise from the stadium and fans over the racket the A27 makes. I think the noise and pollution argument is null and void compared to that and the universities already bring thousands of cars to the area everyday anyway.
When are they going to face the fact that Falmer isn't a little village in the countryside anymore, its a suburb of a major city.
Come on Prescott ignore this shite and make the right decision.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Mr Prescott is understood to be awaiting the results of a public inquiry into the protected status of the South Downs site before making his decision.

IF this was true, it would mean that Prescott's decision could be another year away. The National Park Inquiry still has months to run.

However .... it's just a rumour that has been started by the NIMBYs, who really are clutching at straws. I first heard it earlier in the year (direct from the mouth of one of their witnesses at both Public Inquiries).

The reason the rumour is false can be deduced from the programme of the National Park Inquiry. That Inquiry will only consider the issue of where to draw the boundary of the National Park in the Falmer area at the very end of the process.

The reason for this is that it makes sense for that issue to be discussed AFTER Prescott has made his decision on the Stadium.

Sorry, NIMBYs. Nice try. But it doesn't wash.






On another matter, the ODPM have now written to all of the Interested Parties who have been invited to participate in the "Reference Back Exercise", extending the deadline for comments from 9 June to 18 June. At least that means that Martin Perry will be back from his honeymoon before the deadline!

 

[itszamora]

f***ing hell I hate these environmentalist wankers sticking their heads in all the time

Come on Prescott, do the right thing:falmerspi

 

[Curious Orange]

Some e-mail addresses

home.news@thetimes.co.uk
letters@thetimes.co.uk - this one is for letters that get published so you'll need to include a daytime telephone number and you postal address

 

[Bwian]

Looks like time for the NSC army to mobilise and point out to The Times the error of their reporting.

A few hundred emails might focus their minds a bit!

F**king twats!

I have no problem with showing both sides of the argument but it has to be factual. This has clearly been written by a NIMBY sympathiser/relative.

Really f**king angry now-the whole NIMBY campaign has been based on lies and now the f**king Times is joining in-nothing new there then!

 

[timco]

can someone clear something up for me
Is NC a director or not? I thought he had put in the money but turned down the offer of being a director.

 

[Curious Orange]

can someone clear something up for me
Is NC a director or not? I thought he had put in the money but turned down the offer of being a director.

I believe that is correct Tim. Norman has always maintained that he just put the money in so he could get a parking space at Withdean. Certainly he isn't listed as a director in our match programmes.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The map that accompanies the article is pleasingly ridiculous.

I have to confess to being only an occasional visitor to Hodshrove Road. But have they really let the grass grow so long in Moulsecoomb that the Times mistook it for a wheat field?

And it's good to see that the Solent has been moved. Since there's no football, I might pop over to the Isle of Wight this afternoon.

 

[Muzzman]

can someone clear something up for me
Is NC a director or not? I thought he had put in the money but turned down the offer of being a director.

I was under the impression that he didn't want to be involved with the running of the club and just gave Dick some money for his carpark space at The Withdean, amongst other things of course.

 

[Hunting 784561]

Its good to know that Brighton is now officially on the Solent.

Maybe well get a sandy beach now as well.

 

[Rangdo]

I have to confess to being only an occasional visitor to Hodshrove Road. But have they really let the grass grow so long in Moulsecoomb that the Times mistook it for a wheat field?

And it's good to see that the Solent has been moved. Since there's no football, I might pop over to the Isle of Wight this afternoon.

I doubt they'll be printing an apology for this one. It'll take up more space than the article to correct all the mistakes

 

[sullyupthewing]

The map that accompanies the article is pleasingly ridiculous.

I have to confess to being only an occasional visitor to Hodshrove Road. But have they really let the grass grow so long in Moulsecoomb that the Times mistook it for a wheat field?

And it's good to see that the Solent has been moved. Since there's no football, I might pop over to the Isle of Wight this afternoon.

That would make a brilliant headline in the Sunday Sport, Aliens move the Solent to Brighton.

 

[Curious Orange]

Okay, here is a draft e-mail I'm considering sending off, can you guys check it over for correctness please, and let me know what you think. I haven't decided whether to send it for publication or not yet:


Dear Sir

I read with interest the article 'Stadium plan 'a threat to rural beauty spots'' by Laura Peek in the 5 June edition of timesonline.

It neatly highlighted the conflict between preserving the landscape and saving a community's local football club. Nobody can disagree that it is worth saving valuable Downland, nor that Brighton & Hove Albion desperately need a new stadium.

I am bound however to point out that there were a few inaccuracies in the article pertaining to the nature of the Village Way site. The site is not surrounded by woodland, in fact to the north is the railway and the extremely busy A27 dual-carriageway, to the west is the University of Brighton campus (some of the rather unattractive 1960's buildings there are due to be demolished as part of the development, approval to construct modern replacements has been granted but won't go ahead unless the stadium is approved), to the east there are some trees and a gym complex, and to the south is Village Way itself and another fallow field on the other side of that.

It is also erroneous to suggest that the site is within the proposed boundaries of the National Park, it isn't. In fact the decision on precisely where the boundaries are placed isn't due to be made until after Mr Prescott has made his decision on the stadium in order that this can better inform the decision. In any case the sites status as an AONB will be taken away once the National Park comes into being.

It has also been suggested that supporting facilities such as a cinema may be built. Put plainly the site is not big enough for those things to be constructed.

Finally it was also stated that Norman Cook is a director of Brighton & Hove Albion FC, although he is a major shareholder he declined a place on the board.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Palmer

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Curious Orange -

You might care to add a paragraph:-

Falmer was only selected after a careful analysis of all possible stadium sites in the Brighton area. The location reflects government planning policy guidelines and is the only available site with sustainable transport links. It offers considerable community benefits in an area desperately in need of them, and it has already been designated for development.



I'm not sure about your bit that says "to the east there are some trees and a gym complex". I'd leave that out.