Toads Hole considered serious threat to Falmer.....

[Deleted User X18H]

...Argus front page. Inquiry to be extended due to this new evidence. Stagecoach to provide ulimited buses as transport link.

Cannot scan in so buy the Argus or read it in WHSmiths or online.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The only threat that Toads Hole Valley poses is the threat to the Club's finances that arise from an extended Inquiry.

The new evidence is ridiculous and has already been shown up as such.

THV people are behaving disgracefully. Both the Albion and the City Council are considering making cost claims against them for the disruption they are causing at the Inquiry. Even the Inspector is cross.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Can they not just be kicked out?

 

[Deleted User X18H]

The only threat that Toads Hole Valley poses is the threat to the Club's finances that arise from an extended Inquiry.

The new evidence is ridiculous and has already been shown up as such.

THV people are behaving disgracefully. Both the Albion and the City Council are considering making cost claims against them for the disruption they are causing at the Inquiry. Even the Inspector is cross.

I knew it Bloody Cooke

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Can they not just be kicked out?

Can they not just be kicked, full stop?

Unfortunately, as the inspector has remarked previously in the enquiry, when THV consultant Mr Stiles arrived with something written on a fag packet; however unprofessional this is, he would be expected by the ODPM to hear all available evidence. You do get the impression that he would love to tell them where to go, but his hands are tied.

 

[Percy Tantrums]

I think I might pop along to the enquiry today.

LB you understand these things more than most. What is the problem with the THV site? If it is genuinely a good site for a football ground isn't that something we should welcome?

I think that Falmer is the best proposal however I fear is that at the end of this process we could end up with no site for our ground.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Oh for f*** sake.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I think I might pop along to the enquiry today.

LB you understand these things more than most. What is the problem with the THV site? If it is genuinely a good site for a football ground isn't that something we should welcome?

I think that Falmer is the best proposal however I fear is that at the end of this process we could end up with no site for our ground.

Have you been asleep under a stone for the last 12 months

 

[Napper]

2 steps forward 1 step back all the f**king time

Its really we are staying up say we are staying up all we are saying is give us a ground

 

[perth seagull]

Sounds like big news, or at least the media making a meal out of it. Hopefully it will be dissmissed as a waste of time like Lord Bracknell says.

 

[Don Tmatter]

Why has this come out now? and not 5-6 years ago?

 

[Ernest]

Inquiry is stunned as firms leapfrog its rules
by Rob Hustwayte

Dramatic new evidence in the Brighton and Hove Albion inquiry has thrown the proceedings into disarray.

Toad's Hole Valley has emerged as a threat to Falmer's status as the only credible choice for the Seagulls' community stadium following the testimony of one of the final witnesses.

The land in Hove is one of 11 alternative sites being considered but had been written off because it was thought too difficult to access for most fans.

But Joseph Ellis, a transport consultant appearing for Toad's Hole owners JW Cook Estates and Pecla Investments, told the inquiry yesterday an agreement had been secured with two Brighton bus companies to provide unlimited coaches for every fan who requires public transport on match days.

Club bosses reacted with fury and accused the landowners of flouting inquiry rules that state evidence should be given in writing well in advance so all parties have fair warning and can prepare their responses.

Albion chief executive Martin Perry said: "They have shown utter contempt for the rules and it is an insult to the inspector, the Secretary of State, the residents of Brighton who want a stadium at Falmer and to the football club.

"Toad's Hole Valley were late providing their initial evidence in January and then missed another deadline.

"We are furious. It is either total incompetence or a deliberate attempt to disrupt the inquiry process.

"Introducing potentially damaging evidence like this goes against inquiry conventions and all rules of fairness.

"Because of this, the timetable has yet again been delayed."

The Toad's Hole owners are offering Albion eight hectares of land for the 22,000-seat arena free of charge.

But the deal only stands if Brighton and Hove City Council agrees to grant JW Cook and Pecla planning permission to build a lucrative business park on the rest of the greenfield site.

Albion say Toad's Hole Valley is not a viable alternative, partly because transport would be a problem, whereas Falmer has a main-line railway station.

Yesterday's revelation could add several days to the inquiry as the club prepares to recall its own transport witnesses and anti-Falmer groups such as Lewes District Council change their final submissions in the light of Mr Ellis's claims.

Club barrister Jonathan Clay said: "We specifically asked Toad's Hole Valley's legal advisers whether or not they have any new evidence at the beginning of the week and they said they did not.

"Now, within minutes, Mr Ellis is giving previously unheard evidence.

"It's a breach of proper procedure, it renders these proceedings a farce and I consider it to be an affront to the club and to the inquiry."

Lewes District Council barrister Rob White was due to make his closing submissions to the inspector today but was granted an adjournment until May 2.

Andrew Dyer, the managing director of Stagecoach Coastline, said: "We have been in contact with the developer and said we would have buses available for hire if the football club wanted to hire them. We haven't said we would run ordinary bus services there, though."

A spokesman for Compass Bus Services, of Faraday Close, Worthing, said: "The managing director said we could supply one or two coaches on Saturdays but not many more than that."

Mr Perry added: "This so-called bus evidence is extremely vague. The motives of the owners of Toad's Hole Valley have been clear from day one. They are offering us so-called free land as a Trojan Horse in return for planning permission to open up the rest of the site for development.

"They also want us to pay for all the pedestrian and transport infrastructure to the site.

"Their claim that the land is a gift to the city is absolute rubbish and an insult to intelligence."

Planning inspector David Brier said: "It is highly regrettable that this evidence has come out in this way.

"I want to go away with the best possible information for the Secretary of State and I am concerned that, having already heard evidence, we are getting more without any advance warning.

"I am getting very, very concerned about the implications for the inquiry programme."

The inquiry was due to adjourn on Friday and resume for just one day on May 4, the day before the General Election, but those plans will have to be scrapped.

Mr Brier said the inquiry might need to sit for most of the first week of May.

Mr Ellis was due to be questioned today by Mr Clay and Brighton and Hove Council barrister Mary Macpherson.

 

[perseus]

The opponents seem to be winning on the publicity stakes.

What are the Albion planning team going to do about it?

Revised: maybe not, the article seems to explain clearly enough. Ernest's post crossed with this one.

The summing up stage will reveal the truth. THV is not even a remote possibility. Neither is Sheepcote or Shoreham Harbour.

 

[The Large One]

The opponents seem to be winning on the publicity stakes.

What are the Albion planning team going to do about it?

f*** all, Judas. It's irrelevant.

 

[CHAPPERS]

I'm sorry but how are they allowed to get away with this? Surely there must be a deadline for evidence? Who granted the extension.

The Inspector should surely have the power to tell the owners of THV to f*** OFF.

 

[Curious Orange]

I doubt ignoring etiquette is grounds for completely ignoring evidence - however the Inspector will maybe give it an appropriate weighting in his report.

 

[Superseagull]

So basically the developers claim of unlimited buses turns out to be one company saying they may have one or two coaches available on a saturday, and another saying you can hire what we have got Hardly unlimited and will cost the club £££'s

 

[Storer68]

But Joseph Ellis, a transport consultant appearing for Toad's Hole owners JW Cook Estates and Pecla Investments, told the inquiry yesterday an agreement had been secured with two Brighton bus companies to provide unlimited coaches for every fan who requires public transport on match days.


Does that mean that 22,000 buses will be made available.........

wnakesr the lot of them

 

[Superseagull]

But Joseph Ellis, a transport consultant appearing for Toad's Hole owners JW Cook Estates and Pecla Investments, told the inquiry yesterday an agreement had been secured with two Brighton bus companies to provide unlimited coaches for every fan who requires public transport on match days.


Does that mean that 22,000 buses will be made available.........

wnakesr the lot of them

Why the bloody hell is Mr Ellis making "agreements" with bus companies? What has he done - signed a contract, agreed a price, worked out the routes pickups and timetables. The bloke is talking bollocks.

Any "agreements" for whatever site we end up at would be between the CLUB and the BUS COMPANY and have bog all to do with Mr Ellis and his bus dreamworld.

 

[Paddy B]

The club & city council are quite right to be furious. Un-professional is not the word and any fool can see through their motives, but does the Argus really have to state that "THV has emerged as a threat to Falmer" when it quite clearly it isnt.