Thoughts on Basingstoke Town Football Club – Part 1

Before I start, I should apologise

Several times a year I, with Stuart, put together the ‘Focus’ newsletter to keep you up to date on what we’re doing.  When the Football club decided to consult on whether they could move to Eastrop, in true Lib Dem style, I sent out a resident’s survey.  Calling it ‘Football Focus’ was automatic, if a little predictable.

Here’s a summary of the clubs position.  They use the Camrose ground.  It is old, but the site doesn’t have the flexibility to house a modern sporting venue that you have to have to be allowed in the football league.  The other problem is the club have the ground on a lease which the landowner has no intention of renewing.  The only way out, is to buy the option on the lease, sell the site for retail development and use the receipts to build a new ground on land they can use for a peppercorn.  I should make it clear that no Council money was needed to fund the new stadium and as a small parcel of the Camrose site belongs to the Council they would have actually had a windfall if the scheme goes ahead.

The search for the perfect site has been going on for a few years. (I understand Down Grange was the original idea and before the athletics track was upgraded.  It could have been perfect as is already use for formal recreation, rather than public open space and the changing and social club facilities could have served hockey and rugby teams as well.  A new entrance off the A30 would have kept traffic off Pack Lane and it would have been close to the existing stadium.  But this idea was thwarted by Labour and Conservative councillors as well as other Down Grange users, all this before I was a councillor so I could be corrected)

I have a lot of respect for Rafi Razzak and what he has done for Basingstoke and share his vision that we should have a football team that is successful on, and off, the pitch that the Town can support and be proud of.  

I welcomed the clubs consultation and attended the event in Eastrop.  The club could have simply submitted a planning application, but took the time to seek the views of their supporters as well as residents who will be impacted upon by the possible change of use of both the existing Camrose and Old Common sites.

I approached these consultations with an open mind.  I even spent much of time at the consultation with residents who were opposed, challenging their reasons and exploring what could be changed to win over their backing.  And to their credit the club have not said ‘this is what we’re doing’, but are considering the views of the public to see what could be changed.

What the results of our survey showed was the majority of residents opposed the proposal – 65% were against full stop, 15% were opposed, but could be persuaded if changes were made.  20% were supportive of the idea.  In the survey we put out we mentioned the possibility of the Old Common site being a cemetery (it had been muted at that time) and that was even less popular that a football stadium!

So where are we now?

I have not had any recent contact with the club and assume they’ll make some changes and then submit two planning applications – and this is where it gets tricky.  Unless they get permission for a retail park on the Camrose site, they won’t have the money to build a stadium.  And until they get permission to build a new stadium on the Old Common, they can’t vacate the Camrose site.

The retail park is not a forgone conclusion, after all Tesco are getting knock backs from the Highways agency on the same stretch of Winchester Road.  And surveys suggest some South Ham residents will oppose it.

 

Then there is the Old Common which most local residents are opposed to so far.

But there is a bigger issue with the Old Common site.  Top issues from the survey were traffic, not a problem with current crowds more a potential issue for the future.  And of course a new entrance in Old Common road would limit traffic onto London Road. 

Parking, which could be improved without loss to used public open space.  Some residents have mentioned noise, which restrictions on ‘hours of use’ could solve. Likewise with any light pollution (though the phrase floodlights is a bit dated and modern stadium lights tend to be more like spot lights and only directed at the pitch)  The social club could also be restricted in hours. 

The loss of open space is trickier, however let’s pretend for a moment that that too was overcome and along with the MUGA for community use, the all weather pitch for Costello and the potential for the football ground being used as a far safer student drop off point during the week and don’t forget only one tree is likely to be felled.  There is another reason I think the club needs a better site.  An issue that bothers me (as a football fan) about the Old Common site, which I will blog about in part 2.