Help Sitemap Home Skip Navigation Contact Us Disability Statement

www.majestic-cinema.co.uk
Book online now
Tel: 01553 772603
Licensed bar open every evening
Tower street king's Lynn
 
 
Friday, 12th March 2010

Norfolk County Council holding Wisbech Town "to ransom" over proposed move

Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image

Published Date: 26 June 2009
WISBECH Town Football Club chairman Paul Brenchley has accused Norfolk County Council of holding the club to ransom over the proposed move to a new ground on Lynn Road.
Brenchley is horrified at the charges the council have put on the club for the access to the new site which are now totalling over £120,000.
He said: "The council want £71,000 to carry out the work themselves and want another £37414 on top to compl
ete any further maintenance that may be required to the highways. And that figure has come as a real shock to us.
"We have already paid a £10,000 bond and £1,000 in legal fees when we put in the planning last December and that was after we had paid £7,000 and £1,000 legal fees for the plans to go before the Borough Council but the Norfolk Country Council would not accept those plans and wanted their own set and so we had to pay again.
"It is almost as though someone does not want Wisbech Town to move on to this site and we are being held to ransom. We only have a limited budget and but we have to move there and find the money.
"There other enterprises along this stretch of the road and the same planning has not been applied to them. Five or six of them come straight off gravel drives onto the highway.
"All the highways people are going to do is extend the lay-bay into the access which means changing a few kerb stones and the whole thing seems very excessive.
"As far as the maintenance fee is concerned I thought we paid the rates for that sort of work to be carried out especially as they have done the work in the first place.
"we have to complete the move and to find this extra money we will have to look at making cutbacks elsewhere on the new ground."
John Birchall, a spokesman for Norfolk County Council planning and transport department said:"We are sorry that the club seems to have been surprised by the cost of this work. When applying for planning permission, the football club said it would overcome road safety concerns by putting in a right turn lane into the site, and this is a condition of the club's planning consent.
"Unfortunately, work of this sort is costly. Norfolk County Council cannot compromise on the standard of design and construction because to do so would not be in the interests of the road users or the Council Tax payer. The maintenance charge is a standard cost levied on all developers."
Wisbech Town had hoped initially that they would be playing at their new ground this coming season after planning permission for the ground was granted last year. But those hopes have been dogged by bureaucracy over the last 12 months with one obstacle after another placed in front of the club.
It remains a great shame that councils cannot help smooth the way for projects like this that can only be a great boost for the local community and providing soccer facilities for the children in the Wisbech area too.
As Brenchley added: "We have to have this new ground. We cannot carry on at Outwell and if we cannot afford all these extra charges what happens to Wisbech Town Football Club."



Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 26 June 2009 11:20 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Wisbech
 
 
 


Sister Newspapers:
Press Complaints Commission

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the PCC by clicking here.