New public enquiry

[Albion Rob]

I really, really hope so.

Eight years come the end of this season we have had to live like tramps, begging, borrowing and stealing where we can. Any city the same size in the States would have a 35,000 capacity stadium built by the local authority.

Makes me really sad

 

[perseus]

Let me make it clear, I do NOT intend to propose Pende for a new site at the reconvened Public Inquiry (at the present juncture). I live in Shoreham and I not see it right for me to interfere in their planning matters. Also, I am not opposed to Falmer. I just think Pende is better.

It is not out of question that somebody else would propose this site though. At the moment it is bloody great tip zoned for Tourism and Recreation in the West Sussex Structure Plan (with the dumping tax exemption in place, which is only possible if the area is used for sporting uses).

I still think it is by far the better site for the long term future of the Albion.

Should any supporters wish to approach the Albion Board to suggest the realistic merits of both sites (without prejudicing the chance of a Falmer success), I would be prepared to go out of my way to furnish the required information needed, which I already hold.

Because, the Pende (a genuine community project without a shadow of doubt) proposal would require political willpower, the best platform for the plan would be a Public Inquiry. The plan is too big for one person to propose, and would require a considerable amount of work. It would not require all that much money though. I would anticipate it is the only alternative plan that would NOT require a further Public Inquiry.

Unlike Falmer, I would anticipate it would receive both political and local support and it would not receive the ire of the countryside bodies. It would also comply with all the transport policies without park and ride. It would also be cheaper and much bigger and it would probably be quicker as well.

I would not advise rebutting the plan either. It is the only alternative if Falmer comes a cropper.

http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Pende.htm

My interest is top get the best stadium possible in the best possible site. When I mean the best stadium, I really mean the best stadium south of the Thames. What I really mean is the best stadium in the whole of the UK (including Cardiff and Sunderland).

My second interest is that at present they (landowners etc.) are making a right pig's ear of Pende and that it is an optimum location for a development that would please everybody with nobody standing to lose.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

"Let me make it clear, I do NOT intend to propose Pende for a new site at the reconvened Public Inquiry (at the present juncture). I live in Shoreham and I not see it right for me to interfere in their planning matters. Also, I am not opposed to Falmer. I just think Pende is better. "

But we know better dont we Mt Horton. There is a very strong rumour that Pende/Shoreham Airport will be one of the extra sites .

I wonder how they got the information about tjhis area then? Detailed plans?

Just from public records?

 

[BensGrandad]

What about Horsham Council and Beeding Cement Works yet again. Just whispers and I am not saying I have been told or whatever just little rumblings.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Brian

I was talking to my mate last week at west ham who is a councillor at ADUR DC and the cement works is 100% definately not available ( apart from the obvious milage limit from Brighton)

The original inquiries into the site, if you remember included a Ski Slope etc, made the cost of preparing the site for any sort of development to be somewhere in the region of £25million( and that was 5 yeas+ ago) before you even thought about transport etc. Also there is an asbestos problem on the site which would need fixing...Adur are not prepared to underwrite that cost

 

[BensGrandad]

I believe that at the time that Barry Lloyd and Bill Archer had the row about signing to obtain the land it WAS the best available site but time has moved on and I do not think that it is now I believe like most people that it is Falmer or nothing. However talking to a publican friend his view was that the land is owned by and comes under the jurisdiction of Horsham District Council and there are people on that council who want to offer the site as an alternative.

I do not agrre IT IS FALMER or bust

 

[perseus]

Helen McKay had the site on her list and she was deputy Planning Chief at Adur District Council. Another ex-Planning Chief at Adur District Council (not Wade) was agent for the previous land owners at Pende.

It would not be inconceivable for them to notice 120 acres of empty land near the transport routes slap right in the middle of the Planning District that they were ostensibly responsible for?

It was inconceivable to me that this site has not come up before. Especially by Wade (ex-Planning Officer at Adur DC) at the Public Inquiry. I came to the conclusion that the South Downs lobby were just too arrogant and stupid to think it up on their own.

I have not heard any conclusive rumours. I can't confess to have any political clout to make these sort of things happen.

The only rumours I have heard is that the political bodies in Adur are open-minded* about development on Pende location (except for the airport runway which has been veteod). And also, the Planning Officer said that the rail chiefs would need about 250,000 passengers a year to justify rebuilding the railway station. (* And it wasn't me that had a word in their ear. They did not reveal what they had in mind and I did not suggest anything.)

(With 40% of passengers arriving by train, this would mean gates of over 20,000 every week for a football stadium alone).

This means that for Pende to succeed it would require much more larger development and much bigger players (than just one person). The only thing I could take credit or blame for would be the name "Pende".

Bigger players: it would need Prescott's outright approval and wholehearted support. From the Albion's point of view, all that it would need would be an agreement to operate a stadium.

I do not move in the right (or left) political circles. I have heard that the Labour bods (MPs and the like) will be presenting their views on the available sites at the Public Inquiry. I do not know what sites they will be presenting their views on?

I think Pende could work. If the bankers don't agree, there is always Falmer. I like to think of it as a win-win situation. (Except for Palace and Pompey who would be poor relations comparatively.)

 

[perseus]

Dave the Gaffer. You must know more than me about what is happening on Adur District Council. Since the Tories have got in (by default mostly) I do not have a dialogue with them.

Beeding Cement Works has always been a non-goer. The transport links are so bad that even the Incinerator Plan is unlikely.

Even the Tory Councillors are informed on the dire employment opportunities in the Adur District (worst in Sussex apart from Hastings) and they would welcome any development plans that fit in (they are Tories so I do not really know how they think).

PS: I did not know any Adur Councillors were Albion supporters. I assume they must support the 'ammers.

 

[balloonboy]

Funny how we seem to get more depressed about Falmer after losing at home.....

 

[The Large One]

The first question raised by John Prescott to which the Public Inquiry has to adhere to is - Is the site within Brighton & Hove? Pende is not, nor is Upper Beeding Cement Works. They are not even in the same county.

Perseus - you would be surprised how many Adur Councillors and Officers are Brighton fans...

 

[Rangdo]

The club's spin seems to be that we have been told we can have a stadium, that's why JP didn't throw it out when his inspectors told him to but I'm not convinced.

I think it's fair to say that Prescott has accepted our case for a stadium somewhere. He's not going to re-open the inquiry and then at the end of that say "oh, by the way you never convinced me you needed a stadium anyway so you wasted all that extra money for nothing".

 

[Rangdo]

The first question raised by John Prescott to which the Public Inquiry has to adhere to is - Is the site within Brighton & Hove?

Didn't Prescott's report say they have to be in the conurbation of Brighton and Hove? In which case wouldn't Portslade, Southwick, Shoreham fall into this category?

 

[perseus]

At the Wycombe Football ground Public Inquiry, the Inspector said (exasperated):

"Where do you want the football ground then?"

The Council could not come up with a suggestion. Therefore, the Inspector ruled in favour of the plan.

The upshot is that Wycombe got a ground in a place they is unsatisfactory with no possibility of expansion and they are not happy with it, but they are lumped with it.

 

[BensGrandad]

Didn't Prescott's report say they have to be in the conurbation of Brighton and Hove? In which case wouldn't Portslade, Southwick, Shoreham fall into this category?

I think LB said that this is open to individual interpretaion by the Inspector. The whole question that i asked was could somebody, and I used Persues as an example, throw in a site that was not appropriate as is Beeding or Pende just with the intention of muddying the water and causing a delay. To which I read it that LB said NO.

 

[Waterhall Wizard]

I think that you started this thread Percy under a pseudonym. It is just made for you to make out your reasoned case yet again.

I was witness to a long conversation between Foz and Barry Lloyd, some years ago. Foz offered your site to Lloyd.

As for me? It is in the username. We all have our cross to bear.

 

[southwickseagull]

Help!!! Where the f*** is Pende? I've lived in Southwick for 53 years, driven a cab in the area for 20+ years, and the only Pende i know, is a little close in Sompting.

 

[BensGrandad]

Help!!! Where the f*** is Pende? I've lived in Southwick for 53 years, driven a cab in the area for 20+ years, and the only Pende i know, is a little close in Sompting.

I asked the same question and was directed to the area of land just past the flyover going weston the A27 opposite The Sussex Pad presumably just before the traffic lights and the slip road where the burger van is and the ministry pull in vehicles for checking.

 

[Waterhall Wizard]

Help!!! Where the f*** is Pende? I've lived in Southwick for 53 years, driven a cab in the area for 20+ years, and the only Pende i know, is a little close in Sompting.

This is you again, isn't it Percy? Now answer your own question in your usual eloquent style.

(To southwickseagull. . . . . Try putting 'Pende' in to NSC's search engine. It may bring up some of the many posts that Percy has written on the subject.)

 

[perseus]

Didn't Prescott's report say they have to be in the conurbation of Brighton and Hove? In which case wouldn't Portslade, Southwick, Shoreham fall into this category?

I think the remit was within an area of the conurbation that would be sanctioned by the Football League.

Cynics might say that could mean Timbuktu.

Joe Public will go before the Inspector with his written out statement to have his voice heard. The Inspector will politely ask him to keep within the remits of the Public Inquiry. If he waffles on enough on irrelevancies he will probably be cut short.

The remits (from memory) also asked for many more details of how an alternative site could be practically implemented. Say for Toad's Hole, the Inspector, or the Albion, could properly ask if the landowners have agreed? No real point pursuing an alternative case if the landowners would simply veto any suggestion of selling.

Now, suppose a professional planner made representations (she has her integrity as a planner to think of). The Inspector is probably going to listen within reason. East Quay, Newhaven is arguably too far off the beaten track?

Local people should be represented and simply say Waterhall, Sheepcote, is a public open space and is not acceptable.

Greyhound Stadium, Toad Hole, Brighton station are all land in private ownership and owners are not wishing to sell.

The same with Shoreham Harbour. It is zoned in the West Sussex Structure Plan for port-related activities and should be veteod.

That leaves:

Falmer Village Way North
Falmer Village Way South
Pende

All are acceptable to me.

and

Withdean (which is not acceptable). This were the rebuttal needs to be the strongest.

 

[perseus]

This is the attendances graph showing why Withdean is unsuitable: