Swindon Speedway In Crisis Again

[Darcia]

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Hi All, as you were so wonderfully helpful last time, I wondered if I could ask for your help again.

You may remember that last July Swindon Speedway were threatened with being chucked out of their home the Abbey Stadium when the stadium was to be re-developed. Lots of campaigning later (with the kind help of many of you) led to 100% backing from our council who said that they would do anything in their power to save the speedway and the developers eventually changed their minds and included the speedway in their plans. All sounds good so far doesn't it!

Well bolt out of the blue this week is that the Case Officer in charge of the planning application for the new stadium is recommending refusal of the plans in his report. Crunch time is next Tuesday when the decision will be made.

The Planning officers can vote against the recommendation - so we are looking for another mass show of support for the speedway. We have put together a letter that you can just copy and paste into an e-mail or if you have time you can put it into your own words (I will post it below). I have e-mail addresses for most of the planning committee. If you would be prepared to send a few e-mails for us I would be most greatful - just leave a message here or PM me (obviously if you are from the Swindon area your vote will almost count double but all e-mails could make a difference) and as we are so short of time I hope people dont mind me posting this on here.

Thanks again

Darcia

Thanks for taking the time to read this :thumbsup:

 

[Darcia]

Something along the lines of this....

September 2007

Dear Councillor,

Keep Your Promise – Save Speedway in Swindon

Please support the plans for the redevelopment of Abbey Meads stadium and adjacent land being considered by your Planning Committee on 11th September.

This planning application is the best hope of keeping speedway alive in Swindon.

Your Council passed a resolution in July 2006 saying that it would do everything it could to ensure that top class speedway remains in Swindon – you can now honour this promise by supporting these plans.

The existing Abbey stadium is in a poor state and badly needs upgrading so that the people of Swindon can have access to modern facilities. A new stadium is needed urgently if speedway is to continue in Swindon.

There are no other sites in Swindon for a new stadium. Without a new stadium at Abbey Meads, the Swindon Robins will be unable to continue in the long term and the people of Swindon will lose a national sporting event.

Please make sure that Swindon Council doesn’t let down the thousands of speedway supporters in this town who want the Robins to stay and to have a Stadium worthy of Swindon’s most successful local sporting team.

Yours sincerely

Name…………………………………………………………………(Please sign and print)

Address……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………(Please print)

 

[June Jonigk]

Sorry Darc, we've joined Coventry Bees!

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Only kidding :teehee: Course we will help :thumbsup:

Just send us the addresses

 

[Paula Roberts]

Done it Darc, :cheers: lets hope nothing comes of it and it dosent put your team off there title challenge, :thumbsup: they have been outstanding this year, :thumbsup:

 

[Mark Roberts]

or you could look at it that its one less team to beat Belle Vue next season :- "

 

[Paula Roberts]

Belle vue did the best they could with what they had, hopefully we"ll have some new signings next season that stay with us.

 

[Joanna]

Where do we send it Darcia? Happy to help. These Planning Officers are a law unto themselves. They can only recommend a refusal if it contravenes the Local Plan. If you look on Swindon's Council Website under planning, you should be able to access the local plan. It would be interesting to know which part of the plan is being used as the objection pivot.

 

[Darcia]

Hi Jo,

It is due to the change of land use from employment land to residential that is the main stumbling block - but this has been the case all along, we all know that the local council can only agree and pass on to government to make the final decision.

The new issues seem to be with lack of infrastructure (they say a new school would need to be built in the area - when I know of a number that are going to or have closed recently!) and haggling over the section 106 agreement, SBC want more than what the developers are offering as far as we can tell.

This is all so frustrating, to get so near yet so far, the council say they are still backing the speedway and are telling the devleopers to go away and come back with a new plan but the developers have already changed their plans drastically since the public consultation and say that they are not prepared to change them again - could all be threats but with the companys track record of closing stadiums and leaving them to go to ruin we are all very worried.

Thanks for the support

Darc x

 

[Darcia]

Oops - Paula and Jo, I dont have your e-mail addresses - could you please PM them to me.

Many thanks :cheers:

 

[Darcia]

Done it Darc, :cheers:   lets hope nothing comes of it and it dosent put your team off there title challenge, :thumbsup:   they have been outstanding this year, :thumbsup:

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Is n't it crazy that this is all happening now, when we are top of the league and could (emphasis on could) be about to end our 40 year drought to win the championship!

We think (hope) that it is written in the stars though:

- we last won in 1967 - before that 1957 - so 7's are important!

- we last went unbeaten at home all season in the top league in the year that we last won the league (1967)

- in 1967 - guess who was 2nd in the league behind us? Yes, the Coventry Bees (Oh by the way, very amusing June LoL) who are sat in 2nd place behind us now

So lots of fingers crossed that it really will be our year but the Bees are looking really good too and are 15 meetings unbeaten going into our last league fixture of the year on Monday - away at Coventry - its on sky so a must watch for any other speedway fans out there - and if you dont know what I am talking about - why not tune in to sky sports at 7.30 on Monday to see the top 2 in the league battle it out! It should be a brilliant meeting and great ad for speedway.

 

[Darcia]

Many MANY thanks to those of you who did your bit to help by contacting the councillors on behalf of the Swindon speedway supporters. The last minute "pressure" and media interest brought about an emergency meeting between the head of the Council and the developers - the outshot of which was a recommendation for deferral that was passed at the Planning Committee meeting last night.

Everyone seems reasonably happy with what has to happen next to ensure that the plans go through so fingers crossed that when the plans are resubmitted (which will hopefully be in November) we will get a positive result.

Here is the link to the report in our local paper (and you can laugh at the pic of me at the same time (w00t) :lol: ): Swindon Advertiser

 

[June Jonigk]

That's great news Darc :thumbsup: Glad to have been of assistance :teehee:

 

[Paula Roberts]

Brilliant news Darcia, glad we could be of some help, maybe it might have something to do with sky sports mentioning it on monday night to. :thumbsup:

 

[Rae]

Was of no help at all as didnt see this but well done Darcia - if people didnt make an effort like this LA's would just bloomin please themselves.

:luck: