Very supportive piece, in case you've missed it:
Rob Hughes: Time for Prescott to make a stand
The deputy prime minister owes Brighton residents some answers. Like why — despite local approval — their football team is being denied a stadium
THERE was a time when John Prescott and Des Lynam presented themselves as men of the people: Prescott in government, Des the champion of the armchair football fan. But this weekend, as Brighton & Hove Albion press the deputy prime minister to save them, the politician and the fan appear to be on different sides. Among the countless letters delivered to Prescott’s London office yesterday, one will have come from Lynam, a Brighton fan for most of his life.
Given that this is a government which purports to house football fans, allegedly from the prime minister down, it seems incredible that a club on the south coast is being denied a stadium, a home of any kind, to protect the wishes of a minority of Brighton people who simply object to it near their homes.
This is not, for once, a story of the rich and powerful; if it were, parliament would be listening. Rather, in the very week that MPs had the audacity to suggest that Premier League clubs redistribute a tenth of their TV income to bail out those less fortunate in the lower leagues, there is a dreadful silence from Westminster when it comes to enabling one of the smaller clubs to save itself.
The issue is one of local and national town planning. But if we respect the roots and traditions of our national game, and if we think that a local club in a city the size of Brighton has a right to exist if the people support it, then surely it is myopic of a government that will soon seek a fresh mandate from the country to ignore them.
Prescott is the minister who is driving through plans to expand housing in the southeast. As such, he is cutting swathes through green land for tens of thousands of dwellings which, admittedly, are required by a swelling population attracted to that area for labour.
Brighton, through their chairman, Dick Knight, have reminded us that a few years ago, when his club seemed to be going out of existence, fans of many other clubs the length and breadth of England clubbed together to give them the finance to kick-start their revival. “I am asking football fans to help us again, this time against a totally unfair decision by a planning inspector against this club, our fans, our city and the local community,” he said . “We are being denied the right to build a modern stadium simply because compelling facts have been dismissed by this inspector.”
Brighton city council and members of the public, including Lynam, had put the case for the stadium, proposed to be built at Falmer, and detailed consultation and planning appeared to have gone through until the intervention of the government inspector.
Lynam, when he addressed the appeal, said: “Brighton is the only League club along a stretch of the south coast covering 150 miles, a heavily populated part of the country. For this area to have no club to support would be a travesty.”
The broadcaster added that he had been to seven Olympic Games, to World Cups and to world title fights. “But Brighton & Hove Albion has remained my first love, and I am far from unique in that respect.” Lynam was joined at the inquiry by Andrew Arnott, a local ecologist, who said the construction of a 22,000 all-seat stadium would not have a big impact on badger and bat populations.
So the plea is to save the Seagulls, the club that has resurrected itself because of the passion of local people. If there are some in the vicinity who have no sympathy with them and who defend their own priorities in the area, then surely that issue — Brighton people against Brighton people — is for local government to rule onside or off.
Why it is a question for the second man in government, or why his inspector should be brought in, we need to know.
And John Prescott needs to understand that sport matters to the community, and it will be reflected at the vote.
Rob Hughes: Time for Prescott to make a stand
The deputy prime minister owes Brighton residents some answers. Like why — despite local approval — their football team is being denied a stadium
THERE was a time when John Prescott and Des Lynam presented themselves as men of the people: Prescott in government, Des the champion of the armchair football fan. But this weekend, as Brighton & Hove Albion press the deputy prime minister to save them, the politician and the fan appear to be on different sides. Among the countless letters delivered to Prescott’s London office yesterday, one will have come from Lynam, a Brighton fan for most of his life.
Given that this is a government which purports to house football fans, allegedly from the prime minister down, it seems incredible that a club on the south coast is being denied a stadium, a home of any kind, to protect the wishes of a minority of Brighton people who simply object to it near their homes.
This is not, for once, a story of the rich and powerful; if it were, parliament would be listening. Rather, in the very week that MPs had the audacity to suggest that Premier League clubs redistribute a tenth of their TV income to bail out those less fortunate in the lower leagues, there is a dreadful silence from Westminster when it comes to enabling one of the smaller clubs to save itself.
The issue is one of local and national town planning. But if we respect the roots and traditions of our national game, and if we think that a local club in a city the size of Brighton has a right to exist if the people support it, then surely it is myopic of a government that will soon seek a fresh mandate from the country to ignore them.
Prescott is the minister who is driving through plans to expand housing in the southeast. As such, he is cutting swathes through green land for tens of thousands of dwellings which, admittedly, are required by a swelling population attracted to that area for labour.
Brighton, through their chairman, Dick Knight, have reminded us that a few years ago, when his club seemed to be going out of existence, fans of many other clubs the length and breadth of England clubbed together to give them the finance to kick-start their revival. “I am asking football fans to help us again, this time against a totally unfair decision by a planning inspector against this club, our fans, our city and the local community,” he said . “We are being denied the right to build a modern stadium simply because compelling facts have been dismissed by this inspector.”
Brighton city council and members of the public, including Lynam, had put the case for the stadium, proposed to be built at Falmer, and detailed consultation and planning appeared to have gone through until the intervention of the government inspector.
Lynam, when he addressed the appeal, said: “Brighton is the only League club along a stretch of the south coast covering 150 miles, a heavily populated part of the country. For this area to have no club to support would be a travesty.”
The broadcaster added that he had been to seven Olympic Games, to World Cups and to world title fights. “But Brighton & Hove Albion has remained my first love, and I am far from unique in that respect.” Lynam was joined at the inquiry by Andrew Arnott, a local ecologist, who said the construction of a 22,000 all-seat stadium would not have a big impact on badger and bat populations.
So the plea is to save the Seagulls, the club that has resurrected itself because of the passion of local people. If there are some in the vicinity who have no sympathy with them and who defend their own priorities in the area, then surely that issue — Brighton people against Brighton people — is for local government to rule onside or off.
Why it is a question for the second man in government, or why his inspector should be brought in, we need to know.
And John Prescott needs to understand that sport matters to the community, and it will be reflected at the vote.
for the few dickheads who thought the sit-in and all the other action had done nothing. a conclusion they came to about 5 days after we'd first heard about the report
