TWO MORE SITES added to the list of alternatives to Falmer

[Colbourne Kid]

Falmer PC DID suggest the two sites in a letter to the Inquiry Inspector. In a follow up letter they name the Shoreham Airport site as New Monk's Farm. The estimated costs for looking at the six named sites is approx £250k. Do the sums on what looking at the new sites will cost.

 

[London Irish]

I'm a little surprised that this news has generated so much heat and what, almost nine pages. We discussed only recently on NSC the likely prospect that Falmer PC would propose additional sites, and if I'm not mistaken I think Tim Carder in the supporters' club newsletter named the precise two!

What is surprising is that Falmer PC have named their joke candidates so early when they appeared to win a significant concession from the new inspector that they could raise new sites AT THE INQUIRY ITSELF. In fact, I don't want to depress people further, but this option still appears open to anyone who fancies really pissing around in February.

You can't blame someone like Lord B being frustrated at the latest news after all the hard work he's put in the Falmer campaign and keeping us up to speed on NSC.

But I would take issue with aspects of his "doomsday scenario" he painted in that long posting of his.

What really were the chances, even without the Falmer PC jokers, of this inquiry running to timetable like clockwork and the OPDM turning round an decision WITHIN A MONTH before the April pre-General Election shutdown? Very remote, on both those variables I'd say. We should be stoical and realistic about the fact that we will probably have a decision after the General Election.

But I'm not so pessimistic about the decision being delayed much beyond that. True, Prescott will leave the restructured Department of the Environment and Regions, but his current advisers who have been doing most of the political leg-work will not, and they will be in place to hand the new minister the rubber-stamp.

The consequences of the delay do not look as serious as they did. We now know that McGhee will have his new contract and will have signed the current players he wants for next year and beyond and have got rid of those he doesn't. So the situation on squad building will not be too impaired. You have to wonder that these contract decisions reflect the fact that Dick Knight and Martin Perry are getting increasingly confident about the Falmer outcome.

Yes, it's annoying that the Falmer PC pissing around will cost us additional resources - although it's not really clear how much. Instead of bemoaning that fact, let's redouble our effort to support the Alive and Kicking campaign and not be ground down by our enemies.

To my mind, the Falmer PC jokers are an irritation, albeit one that will cost us a bit more time and money, but I reckon that's how they will appear to the inspector as well as they bumble though their incoherent evidence.

A much more serious threat will be the moneyed Lewes DC campaign pushing Toad's Hole and Sheepcote. This remains the number one target for our side to crush. These risible proposals from Falmer PC don't alter that fact.

I'd also like to say that NSC should give Perseus a break. Yes, he's a bit of an eccentric and has posted a cyber-forest of unhelpful postings over the years relating to our great Falmer fight, but it leaves a sour taste the way he's being abused at the moment. This is a great website, but it's the only time NSC really lets itself down when people get emotionally carried away to the point of a witch-hunt. Leave him alone.

At the end of the day, the bottom-line is that this inquiry process is a democratic one, and as frustrating as it is for us to accept the fact that other parties are going to utilise their democratic rights to the fullest extent in a way we don't like, I think it's ultimately pointless for us to spend too much time bitching about that.

Far better and far smarter for us to REALLY SMASH our enemies by continuing to raise money for the club and to throw our full weight behind the club and the Falmer For All campaign which is now so close to winning our greatest ever victory.

 

[Curious Orange]

Interesting stuff, but not really unexpected is it. I'm just glad that the naming of other sites hasn't been left to the last minute - which is what we all expected. Cheer up folks, there's a match on Saturday,

 

[jonogulls]

I'm a little surprised that this news has generated so much heat and what, almost nine pages. We discussed only recently on NSC the likely prospect that Falmer would propose additional sites, and if I'm not mistaken I think Tim Carder in the supporters' club newsletter named the precise two!

What is surprising is that Falmer have named their joke candidates so early when they appeared to win a significant concession from the new inspector that they could raise new sites AT THE INQUIRY ITSELF. In fact, I don't want to depress people further, but this option still appears open to anyone who fancies really pissing around in February.

You can't blame someone like Lord B being frustrated at the latest news after all the hard work he's put in the Falmer campaign and keeping us up to speed on NSC.

But I would take issue with aspects of his "doomsday scenario" he painted in that long posting of his.

What really were the chances, even without the Falmer jokers, of this inquiry running to timetable like clockwork and the OPDM turning round an decision WITHIN A MONTH before the April pre-General Election shutdown? Very remote, on both those variables I'd say. We should be stoical and realistic about the fact that we will probably have a decision after the General Election.

But I'm not so pessimistic about the decision being delayed much beyond that. True, Prescott will leave the ODPM, but his ODPM advisers who have been doing most of the political leg-work will not, and they will be in place to hand the new minister the rubber-stamp.

The consequences of the delay do not look as serious as they did. We now know that McGhee will have his new contract and will have signed the current players he wants for next year and beyond and have got rid of those he doesn't. So the situation on squad building will not be too impaired. You have to wonder that these contract decisions reflect the fact that Dick Knight and Martin Perry are getting increasingly confident about the Falmer outcome.

Yes, it's annoying that the Falmer pissing around will cost us additional resources - although it's not really clear how much. Instead of bemoaning that fact, let's redouble our effort to support the Alive and Kicking campaign and not be ground down by our enemies.

To my mind, the Falmer jokers are an irritation, albeit one that will cost us a bit more time and money, but I reckon that's how they will appear to the inspector as well as they bumble though their incoherent evidence.

A much more serious threat will be the moneyed Lewes DC campaign pushing Toad's Hole and Sheepcote. This remains the number one target for our side to crush. These risible proposals from Falmer don't alter that fact.

I'd also like to say that NSC should give Perseus a break. Yes, he's a bit of an eccentric and has posted a cyber-forest of unhelpful postings over the years relating to our great Falmer fight, but it leaves a sour taste the way he's being abused at the moment. This is a great website, but it's the only time NSC really lets itself down when people get emotionally carried away to the point of a witch-hunt. Leave him alone.

At the end of the day, the bottom-line is that this inquiry process is a democratic one, and as frustrating as it is for us to accept the fact that other parties are going to utilise their democratic rights to the fullest extent in a way we don't like, I think it's ultimately pointless for us to spend too much time bitching about that.

Far better and far smarter for us to SMASH them by continuing to raise money for the club and to throw our full weight behind the club and the Falmer For All campaign which is now so close to winning our greatest ever victory.

Spot on. Jesus it's taken a whole day but finally someone has managed a salient, well made, constructive point without turning into a f***ing moaning school child.

 

[Halftime Oranges]

Interesting stuff, but not really unexpected is it. I'm just glad that the naming of other sites hasn't been left to the last minute - which is what we all expected. Cheer up folks, there's a match on Saturday,

Yeah chin up put it in and get behingd the boys on saturday, three points for the taking if we put in a great performance.

 

[dougdeep]

If L.I. is optimistic then so am I.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

You can't blame someone like Lord B being frustrated at the latest news after all the hard work he's put in the Falmer campaign and keeping us up to speed on NSC.

But I would take issue with aspects of his "doomsday scenario" he painted in that long posting of his.

What really were the chances, even without the Falmer PC jokers, of this inquiry running to timetable like clockwork and the OPDM turning round an decision WITHIN A MONTH before the April pre-General Election shutdown? Very remote, on both those variables I'd say. We should be stoical and realistic about the fact that we will probably have a decision after the General Election.

As it happens, London Irish, that's what I've was thinking a few months back. I even tried to persuade the Falmer For All team to "get real" about the likelihood that the decision would in any event be delayed by a May General Election. But the FFA leadership remained confident that the Inspector's report could be delivered very promptly after the end of the Inquiry.

I simply can't see this happening now. As the Colbourne Kid suggests, the costs of the Inquiry are going to be higher than previously estimated - and all of the noises we are hearing from Dick Knight suggest that this will restrict the options that are open to him and Mark McGhee on the playing side of the Club.

So I'm gloomy.

But ... NOTHING that has happened in the past few months makes me deviate from the view that we WILL get Falmer eventually.

 

[towbarball]

Breaking News.
I am surprised that no one has mentioned on this thread the news mentioned this morning on SCR of the possible amalgamation of Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council into a Unitary Authority like Brighton & Hove. It was stated that both respective councils are to consult and report in four months time after a feasibility study.
This seems to be a classic " YES MINISTER" scenario of further delaying tactics.
Worthing Borough Council are joint owners of the airport site and are not renowned for " playing with a straight bat" to put it politely. ( Brown envelopes aka ian hamilton fly about all over the place)
Perhaps "the gravedigger" will come to the rescue and enter local politics at last!
You heard it here first.

 

[Marc]

Breaking News.
I am surprised that no one has mentioned on this thread the news mentioned this morning on SCR of the possible amalgamation of Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council into a Unitary Authority like Brighton & Hove. It was stated that both respective councils are to consult and report in four months time after a feasibility study.
This seems to be a classic " YES MINISTER" scenario of further delaying tactics.
Worthing Borough Council are joint owners of the airport site and are not renowned for " playing with a straight bat" to put it politely. ( Brown envelopes aka ian hamilton fly about all over the place)
Perhaps "the gravedigger" will come to the rescue and enter local politics at last!
You heard it here first.

Explains why on the Adur Council website they have a news piece on huge cutbacks to save money over the next two years. Going from 4 divisions to 2 or something & saving £300,000 in the process

 

[Beach Hut]

I could be living in the flight path of a commercial airport and have a football stadium near me very soon.

Handy for when we get in the Champions League and you are welcome to tea pre-match.

 

[towbarball]

The combined news of cut backs of senior management at Adur District Council and the proposed amalgamation of both councils would seem to dovetail.
Another terrible thought is that if all this came to fruition it would create a getto with a massive Tory Majority.
THE SCENARIO GETS WORSE AS YOU THINK IT THROUGH.

 

[Marc]

I could be living in the flight path of a commercial airport and have a football stadium near me very soon.

Handy for when we get in the Champions League and you are welcome to tea pre-match.

oohh wonder if we get any more of those Pilot Bars where all the fit women go....and we can pretend to pilots and......

 

[portlock seagull]

I was 23 when I seriously joined in this fight to keep the Albion alive, albeit the enemy keeps changing.

I'm 32 now and at this rate running out of life quite literally. At the last home game 3 old dears (2 women and 1 man but all in their 70's) were sitting in front of us in freezing temperatures with sleet and rain pouring down on them. Eventually the weather got the better of them and they left early. They go home and away and have supported the Albion for decades. They just want to watch a local institution play their football to their highest possible standard. That's all.

It's an absolute disgrace what's happening and if there's one more inquiry to be had it's the one into why politicians and NIMBYs have been allowed to "toy" with the planning application for so long. BHA should be allowed to sue for damages when this is over for gross misconduct. I may not be a legal professional, but I speak for the majority in case so that's what should be law.

Will some one please make a f***ing decision? And make sure it's the right one. The one the VAST majority have jumped through hoops to obtain.

 

[towbarball]

After further relection Worthing Borough Council needs to rehabilitate itself after the "SHERYLGATE AFFAIR" IS FINALLY RESOLVED.
Reorganisation would suit Whitehall to take the flak out of the situation which will probably show corruption in local government.The jury is out.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

I could be living in the flight path of a commercial airport and have a football stadium near me very soon.

Handy for when we get in the Champions League and you are welcome to tea pre-match.

Does Mrs Beachy do a nice bacon sandwich, BH? A few of them plus a few barrels of Harveys in front of the hut would go down very well in summer. Sorry for the light side, but I'm feeling rather fed up.

Back to matters in hand, another factor against Beeding is Southern's pathetic inability to run anything resembling a train service. Apologies to Virgo's Haircut, I'm not having a go at the staff. I cannot see Network Rail and Southern wanting to rebuild a short branch line that would be used 24 times a year. If they can cancel trains carrying 500 people at the drop of a hat (East Grinstead line), then are they going to worry about a bunch of football supporters when they have a shortage of trains? I would also have thought that Shoreham Airport is a fair way from Shoreham Station, so going against the within easy access of public transport requirement. As for the enquiry, can any interested party propose alternative sites? I thought the ODPM had decided which sites they wanted to be considered. Can anyone help me? Lord B, anyone else?

 

[Marc]

Does Mrs Beachy do a nice bacon sandwich, BH? A few of them plus a few barrels of Harveys in front of the hut would go down very well in summer. Sorry for the light side, but I'm feeling rather fed up.

Back to matters in hand, another factor against Beeding is Southern's pathetic inability to run anything resembling a train service. Apologies to Virgo's Haircut, I'm not having a go at the staff. I cannot see Network Rail and Southern wanting to rebuild a short branch line that would be used 24 times a year. If they can cancel trains carrying 500 people at the drop of a hat (East Grinstead line), then are they going to worry about a bunch of football supporters when they have a shortage of trains? I would also have thought that Shoreham Airport is a fair way from Shoreham Station, so going against the within easy access of public transport requirement. As for the enquiry, can any interested party propose alternative sites? I thought the ODPM had decided which sites they wanted to be considered. Can anyone help me? Lord B, anyone else?

For the train, it would cost shedloads of money...and whos gonna foot that bill?!
As for the sites, it was always declared that new sites could be considered of they fell into the categorys stated in the ODPMs letter. Whether or not these two do is upto the Inquiry to now sort out.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

As I said earlier, do the sites have to be in the Brighton and Hove conurbation, which Lord B says extends to Littlehampton, or the Brighton and Hove Council area?

 

[Marc]

As I said earlier, do the sites have to be in the Brighton and Hove conurbation, which Lord B says extends to Littlehampton, or the Brighton and Hove Council area?

well presumably they are, if not then the NIMBYs are blatantly pathetic and they will be thrown out by the Inspector.....but the Inspector has advised other parties of the two new sites so I reckon they are in "The Area". Not sure which area though, its confusing!

 

[wrexhamgnasher]

Can't be assed scrolling through all 9 pages but noticied Crabtree's pics and have to say that the transport links for that site was terrible. Reading through it looks like they will also need to build more railway links. From what I can make out Falmer is by far the best option, this is just going to cost you more time and money.

I did an article on an update on Falmer a few days ago so by the time the fanzine comes out it will be out of date

Anyway chins up guys and girls. From what I can see (and I'm no expert on Brighton and the surrounding area) Falmer is by far the best option and this is only a minor set back.

You've fought bigger fish than this before. Keep fighting.

Good things come to those who wait

 

[ac gull]

On a more positive note Wrexham are making theie live away game on Sky this Friday night the "Wrexham 4 Falmer" game

They have few banners etc printed up to get us a bit more publicity to our cause