Lord Bracknell
On fire
From http://www.angelfire.com/space/falmer/LatestNews.htm
Falmer Village will be joint applicants in the High Court challenge to John Prescott’s decision to allow the building of a 23,000 capacity stadium in Falmer. His decision not only goes against his own planning policies of not building in areas of outstanding natural beauty, but also against the advice of two of his own inspectors. To get around this he has said that although a football stadium is not in the national interest the regeneration of an area of deprivation such as Moulsecoombe is. This actually means that any developer could in the future use this argument to build on AONB or even National Park land, as long as it was close to somewhere designated as an area of deprivation. All the downland between Falmer and Sheepcote could be threatened. Sheepcote is also an area of deprivation. The irony is that not only can a developer use these areas of deprivation to build on protected land, but can also get grants from the government to do it. The football club are hoping to get 10 million pounds in grants to help in this so called regeneration.
The legal action, if we lose, will cost £60000. The Society of Sussex Downsmen and South Downs Conservation board have both pledged £5000. We are paying half the costs along with Lewes District Council. This means we need to find £25,000. We have already raised £15,000, and so need to find another £10,000. We need to raise this money before we go to court. This will probably not be before June next year. The strange thing about these appeals is that if we win, and I think we will, the government have to pay our costs. We pay nothing. If we lose we pay their costs.
Falmer Village will be joint applicants in the High Court challenge to John Prescott’s decision to allow the building of a 23,000 capacity stadium in Falmer. His decision not only goes against his own planning policies of not building in areas of outstanding natural beauty, but also against the advice of two of his own inspectors. To get around this he has said that although a football stadium is not in the national interest the regeneration of an area of deprivation such as Moulsecoombe is. This actually means that any developer could in the future use this argument to build on AONB or even National Park land, as long as it was close to somewhere designated as an area of deprivation. All the downland between Falmer and Sheepcote could be threatened. Sheepcote is also an area of deprivation. The irony is that not only can a developer use these areas of deprivation to build on protected land, but can also get grants from the government to do it. The football club are hoping to get 10 million pounds in grants to help in this so called regeneration.
The legal action, if we lose, will cost £60000. The Society of Sussex Downsmen and South Downs Conservation board have both pledged £5000. We are paying half the costs along with Lewes District Council. This means we need to find £25,000. We have already raised £15,000, and so need to find another £10,000. We need to raise this money before we go to court. This will probably not be before June next year. The strange thing about these appeals is that if we win, and I think we will, the government have to pay our costs. We pay nothing. If we lose we pay their costs.