Prospective New Tracks

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Hopefully Cradley Heath, Exeter, Bodmin, Leicester and a few others will be putting in planning applications over the next few weeks and months, and I'm sure all real speedway supporters will join me in wishing them well in their dealings with their respective local councils.

Let's use this thread to keep abreast of any new developments, and to get it started, does anyone know the dates their applications will be submitted?

[Deleted]

Leicester update

www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=132407&command=displayContent&sourceNode=132390&contentPK=19323669&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch

Speedway campaigners are hoping to submit a planning application for a new stadium in spring next year.

They want to build a community, sports and education centre at the back of Beaumont Leys leisure centre.

It would include a speedway track, 12 five-a-side football pitches, a BMX track and a cycling velodrome.



There would also be an education centre for people with learning disabilities.

Some local residents have raised concerns about noise and traffic but others are in favour of the scheme.

Members of the proposed Beaumont Park Sports Complex project consortium met with Leicester West MP Patricia Hewitt last week to update her on developments following a public meeting last month.

Further consultation work has been undertaken on parking for the site and links with Beaumont Town football club.

A spokesman for the consortium said: "The consortium are hopeful that a meeting can be arranged, with council leaders, early in the new year to enable the commencement of design development that will lead towards a planning application being submitted before the spring."

Ms Hewitt said: "There is a lot of potential with this development - not only would it provide some fantastic community facilities, but it would provide an opportunity to bring the Special Olympics to Beaumont Leys.

"However, I will be making sure that the developers work very closely with local residents to ensure that the concerns of my constituents are not bypassed."

If the plans are successful British Cycling, the sports governing body, could move their regional headquarters to Beaumont Leys.

It is also anticipated that the cycling facilities will be used for cycling events in the 2009 Special Olympics.

This is dependant on the proposals being granted.

This is also the critical date for the planned re-launch of the Leicester Lions speedway team.

Developers say bike noise has been reduced substantially in the last 20 years and is up to 90 per cent quieter than when speedway was at the old Blackbird Road site.

They say the speedway track will only be used for one night a week between March and October, and usually on a Saturday.


Good news on the Cycling front - a real feather in the cap.

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kevh said:

Hopefully Cradley Heath, Exeter, Bodmin, Leicester and a few others will be putting in planning applications over the next few weeks and months, and I'm sure all real speedway supporters will join me in wishing them well in their dealings with their respective local councils.

Let's use this thread to keep abreast of any new developments, and to get it started, does anyone know the dates their applications will be submitted?

I can keep everyone up to date on the Cradley situation. The application went into Dudley council around 6 weeks ago (maybe a little longer) but has not yet been lodged due to a few minor points they want to discuss with regard to noise and parking in the main. Tony Mole and the developers are meeting with them shortly to discuss this and the application will be lodged and the process begin from there I believe.

There has many objections from residents and councillors local to the proposed site in the local press (one free paper in particular) which although mainly based on inaccurate arguments is potentially damaging to the bid. Accusations of 7 days a week practice, air horns til all hours, the track isn't in Cradley Heath (it's about 2 miles away in Cradley!) are all things being thrown around.

The main objection is that the proposed site is Greenbelt land, but as we have looked at and had turned down around 60 other sites over 12 years there really isn't much choice left (another thing objectors don't seem to understand)

See www.cradleyspeedway.co.uk for more news, and I will update this as and when anything further happens

[Deleted]

Very bad news from Cradley Heath.

Taken from www.cradleyspeedway.co.uk

20/01/08 : Oldnall Planning Application Withdrawn

The proposal to resurrect Cradley Heath Speedway at the new site off Oldnall Road has hit major stumbling blocks and it has sadly now been decided that the planning application will be shelved.
The plans were a culmination of several years hard work after the site had been identified by consultants and thousands of pounds spent on preparing reports and surveys to support the application. However, prospective promoter Tony Mole has made the following statement:

"Following a meeting with Dudley Council officials on the 3rd December 2007, my company has reviewed the prospects of the Oldnall Road Planning Application.

"After seeking discussions with them for over six months, the meeting finally clarified the full list of Council stipulations. These were considerably more extensive than previously indicated in correspondence and included the potential provision of a large additional payment to them, which would have made the project uneconomical. In addition, the likely restrictions on development would have made it impossible to provide the standard of facilities that supporters have a right to expect.

"Whilst we still feel that Oldnall Road could provide an acceptable location for the reintroduction of Speedway, this would require the full support of the Council and it became clear at the meeting that we were very unlikely to achieve this. On that basis, we have reluctantly decided to withdraw the Planning Application.

"We would like to thank the Feoffees of Oldswinford School for their cooperation and patience and C.R.A.S.H. and the Supporters of Cradley Heath Speedway for their hard work and tireless efforts in support of the Application."

With local councillors and residents speaking out against the proposal, but many backing the return of speedway elsewhere in the borough of Dudley, Bob Edwards says that it is now time the Council showed their true support;

“Whilst we are extremely disappointed that the Application has been withdrawn, we would like to thank Tony for his hard work and investment in trying to achieve a solution over the last few years. This result, and the rejection of other more suitable sites such as Dudley Zoo, Castlegate and Yorks Park, is a clear indication that it is difficult to succeed in such a venture without the cooperation and leadership of the Council.

"The Unitary Development Plan requires the Council to “encourage and facilitate” the development of a Stadium for the Borough. The need for such a facility for Speedway and other uses clearly remains and is supported by the 10,000 signatures we have recently collected to support the reintroduction of Speedway to the Borough. We will now be seeking a commitment from the Council to take the lead in identifying a solution, which can deliver their UDP Commitment.”

Another prominent figure who has recently spoken out on the debate is Stourbridge MP Lynda Waltho. She commented on the news, saying “Whilst I am pleased that the Planning Application will not be proceeding on the Oldnall Rd site, I would like to see Speedway return to the Borough at a more suitable location. It is part of the Council’s responsibility to plan for the future of the Borough and a Stadium would be a tremendous asset to the leisure industry in the area and give Dudley a chance of making its way back onto the national and international sporting stages. I will seek an assurance from the Council that they will take this aim forward.”

Battling Heathens fans must now take in the bitter blow and decide upon the best way forward in order for the famous club to return to its rightful home. The thousands of signatures collected on petitions to support the return remain valid and indeed crucial to further developments. Both paper and online versions support the general principle to 'Bring Back Cradley Speedway' as well as the application. We continue to encourage all supporters to be collecting further signatures and require all completed sheets to be returned to the address printed on the bottom.

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Gutting. After all that work too. I feel so sorry for the Heathens fans.

[braveheart]

Bad news for the Heathens fans and all of speedway.

I've read some of the Eric Boocock book and he says in there about Halifax and the fact that the town would welcome back its speedway. I would have loved to have seen speedway at the Shay. Lets hope that we will see speedway back in the area again.

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That's that fucked then

[Deleted]

Been reading 'Leicestershire Builder' this lunch break. Planning permission has gone in for a percentage of the proposed Speedway site for Leicester to have a clubhouse and more car parking plus extra pitches for the local football team. I know the whole project had this in mind but to me it seems this could be a minor blow because the Speedway is losing one of it's attractive parts to the project.

I did a bit of snooping to look at the drawings at work and it appears, that the actual site of the track would be ok but less so for the others.

If planning permission comes quick enough, the work will be delayed the Gypsies on the site.

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Can you clarify that please Harry?

Are you saying that no planning application has yet been made for the speedway track itself?

[Deleted]

Yes let me clarify.

There has been no pp for the speedway track. However, there has been a pp made for a percentage of the site which is a FA approved Football Foundation faclity. However this FA thingy-me-bob was initially introduced by the Speedway promotion has been a part of the big project. My personal feeling is that lose this part of the project when the track's pp comes up could have a major effect on the decision.

Sorry for my unclear mumbo-jumbo previously.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the explanation.

There are a couple of things that trouble me about this venture. Firstly I have to say I know absolutely nothing about planning permission etc, but I have followed closely any that relate to speedway.

Allen Trumps initial request for the new Exeter track was actually published on the Internet and I was amazed at the detail he'd gone into. Tony Mole's Birmingham application wasn't (to my knowledge anyway) put on the web, but I'm sure it was equally detailed and researched.

The Leicester application, clearly doesn't cover everything if the speedway and possibly other facilities are to follow. I can't see the logic in this, although I'm prepared to accept there may be some.

The other 'worry' I have is the way news broke of the enterprise in the first place. It's seems the norm that a lot of work goes on behind the scenes and only when they're obliged to make the details public, do they do so.

This venture was launched by a new web site announcing 'The Lions Are Back' and a team was assembled to represent the club in a challenge match at Kings Lynn. Now, call me a cynic if you wish, but surely such bold and public actions would have attracted any 'anti-speedway brigade' in the area and given them a far longer period than usual to plan any protests or 'little surprises' they could muster?

As I say, I know nothing, but doesn't this seem an unusual approach?

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kevh said:

Thanks for the explanation.

As I say, I know nothing, but doesn't this seem an unusual approach?

Agreed. When I visited the launch in a Speedy Hire shop, I came out spitting feathers. An awful approach and personally I think Chapman has allowed the supporters club too much power. I do think the very public annoucements were needed however, they need to get it cross to the press that the project wasn't just a Speedway thing. This in the end was completely alienated by the introduction of a website which is partly based on the Speedway. They should of done a website for the whole project.

Anyway I'll stop moaning and thank god that someone is having a go at doing. In fact, I won't mention the matter anymore.

TBF, apart from the odd objecting letter in the local paper which has been counteracted by supporters of it back including myself. There seems to me no active working group against it. The site has recently had a rape commited on it and now houses gypies. If the college have any brain, they'd give up the site to anybody.

[Deleted]

Leicester have a great little stadium already that would be perfect for Speedway on Saffron Lane. I looked at it some 8 years ago, but at that time I found all contact with the Council like playing with a brick wall.

Saffron Lane has two stadiums next to each other. The one is an Athletics track with main stand while the other is a smaller version of Odsal, Bradford. It was used for Cycling, but the centre was used for 5-a-sides and hockey matches.

Last I heard it was still laying dormant which really is a waste.


The new proposal of a stadium looks great, but my concern is that with so many other things planned there, would speedway be looked at as an unwelcome resident after a year ?


I wish them all the best in their application and should they get the go ahead, I will certainly pop along a few times to watch.

[Deleted]

Here is the latest news on plans for Swindon's new stadium.

www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/swindonnewsheadlines/display.var.2031281.0.revised_speedway_plans_unveiled.php

[Deleted]

960002 said:

Leicester have a great little stadium already that would be perfect for Speedway on Saffron Lane. I looked at it some 8 years ago, but at that time I found all contact with the Council like playing with a brick wall.

Saffron Lane has two stadiums next to each other. The one is an Athletics track with main stand while the other is a smaller version of Odsal, Bradford. It was used for Cycling, but the centre was used for 5-a-sides and hockey matches.

Last I heard it was still laying dormant which really is a waste.


The new proposal of a stadium looks great, but my concern is that with so many other things planned there, would speedway be looked at as an unwelcome resident after a year ?


I wish them all the best in their application and should they get the go ahead, I will certainly pop along a few times to watch.

The Saffron Lane Velodrome has been sold off for housing and flats, the athletics track which has always been used is getting a facelift for the Special Olympics in 2009.