startrax oval racing | home - belle vue greyhound stadium · 2020. 9. 10. · belle vue greyhound...

Belle Vue Greyhound Stadium

Table of Contents:

1. Background Information tothe Campaign.

3. The Planning Application and Process.

5. The Campaign to Save Belle Vue Greyhound Stadium

7. Supporting Public Comments

8. A Lesson from History - Wimbledon Stadium

10. So What are the Options? How can MPs Help?


We have deliberately not sought to politicise ourcampaign to ‘Save Belle Vue Stadium’ despite a largeamount of provocation. Instead we have preferredto take the moral high ground.

That said, fundamentally, the attack on Belle Vueand other greyhound stadiums is in our reluctantopinion, a direct attack on traditional working classvalues.

The sites historically used for traditional workingclass sports such as greyhound racing and stock carracing, are now viewed as easy pickings by cash richdevelopers, to secure large sites in the centre oftowns, but at a knock down price with bundles ofpotential.

We begin by simply saying this is by no means thefirst greyhound stadium that has been threatenedwith demolition to meet supposed housing needs,and sadly it certainly will not be the last going bycurrent trends.

None of us would ever be against a genuine demandfor social housing, but in every case, including thelikes of Walthamstow, Hall Green, or more recentlyWimbledon, the housing stock being offered was notdesigned for the working class man.

One glance at the website of developer Galliard,for the former Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium(www.galliardhomes.com/wimbledon-grounds)and you will see the nominal entry level, onebedroom apartments (of only 579 square feet)beginning at £435,000.

Yes, a mere £435,000 for a small one bedroomapartment. How many of the cleaners and staff atthe nearby St George’s Hospital will be able toafford one of these when on minimum wage?

In reality, as promoted by the developer, theseare ‘Investment Opportunities’. This is offensivewhen working people in the area are desperatefor real homes.

From the plans submitted to Manchester CityCouncil (MCC) by the developers CountrysideProperties, this same policy will be replicated bythose wishing to pursue the development on thesite at Belle Vue.

The application submitted for 247 houses byCountryside Properties, goes completely againstthe Council’s own plans for ‘affordable homes’ ata rate of 20%. In reality only 12% of the stock willbe offered at the reduced rate.

Belle Vue stadium sits proudly in the workingclass Gorton area of the city, where the averageprice of a home is £140,166.

At an average price of £245,000 these will not behouses for local residents.

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First opened in 1926, Belle Vue stadium is famous forstaging the first ever Greyhound racing event in theUK.

Speedway had been in operation at the GreyhoundStadium since 1927, and Stock car racing in the areasince 1954.

94 years later it continues as one of the UK’s mostpopular Greyhound and Stock Car Racing venues,hosting over 160 events each year.

Despite being commercially viable in pre-Covidtimes, Manchester's historic Belle Vue Stadium is setto be demolished after the Planning Committee atManchester City Council were - ‘Minded to approve’the developers plans on the site.

The planned demolition provides nothing as a leisurealternative within the area, for both current andfuture residents.

This in vibrant flourishing Manchester, a city famedthroughout the world for its sporting achievementsand history.

When one thinks of sport in Manchester, one thinksof Old Trafford, the former Maine Road (and nowEtihad Stadium). Belle Vue stadium deserves to bementioned in the same breath.

Our campaign objects to the plans, and wishes toensure that the stadium remains as a landmark to beenjoyed for many years to come.

The stadium is unique in the local community,providing a home for both Greyhound racing andStock car racing, which will be almost impossibleto replace.

As we all know sport plays an important part inthe heritage and continued vibrancy in the city ofManchester.

In many respects, its extensive heritage is whatmakes the city the unique place it is for bothlocals and visitors.

Losing Belle Vue stadium would leave a massivehole in the leisure and culture make-up of the city.

Manchester at its core has always been a proudpredominantly working class town, highlighted bythe key role Belle Vue stadium has with its twoworking class sports.

In days gone by, Manchester once boasted anincredible five greyhound venues (and venues forstock car racing) but now only Belle Vue remains.

To allow its redevelopment as part and parcel ofthe fabric of Manchester, would be comparableto wiping out the vibrant and historic music scenein the city for which it is also renowned.

If the stadium were to fall, then the North Westwould lose its last remaining stadium for bothGreyhound racing and Stock Car racing, whichwould simply be a travesty.

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The application for development by CountrysideProperties was submitted on 17th December 2018,and was finally heard by the committee on 19thDecember 2019, where the decision taken was‘Minded to approve’.

Bluntly, and without wishing to appear rude, theprocess was very much a ‘fait a compli’. One astuteobserver commented that it felt irrelevant what wassaid by anybody on the day – the matter had alreadybeen pre-determined.

We would strongly agree with that statement.

The sheer amount of documents added to the MCC’sown portal in the previous week, and indeed on theprevious day, added fuel to the fire of suspicion.

The fact that the application had taken one year andtwo days to actually reach the planning meeting fora decision, was indicative of the sheer volume ofcorrespondence and genuine interest, in the longterm retention of the iconic stadium together.

More importantly, the timeline also reflected thelack of quality of the original application, along withthe supporting reports from the developer.

Had the application been heard when originallyscheduled in March 2019, we believe it may wellhave been rejected.

It was disappointing to note that in the planners‘weighting’ towards housing, many submissionsand reports were missing.

An impact assessment from Mark Bird, ManagingDirector of Greyhound Board of Great Britain,stating how many jobs would be lost, and how theclosure would impact on greyhound re-homingcentres illustrates merely one example.

The then Animal Welfare Minister, David RutleyMP, wrote two letters to Manchester City Councilhighlighting his concerns that the sport’s recordon animal welfare would be used maliciously.

The formal reply from the MCC Planning Officerstated that animal welfare was not a matter ofconsideration for planning applications, and yetanimal welfare submissions were accepted!!

It was then exceedingly frustrating for supportersof Belle Vue, to see included a number of itemsfrom known ‘Animal Rights’ activists.

These people had maintained a long held desireto close all Greyhound stadiums, and to see theend of ALL Greyhound racing within the UnitedKingdom.

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The recommendation report to the committee alsoimportantly failed to mention, the critical roleplayed in the application process by Sport England.

Being the arm of government that supports UKsport, frustratingly Sport England has long held arather questionable policy concerning ‘recognisedsports’.

Incredibly, whilst Members of Parliament recognisethe sport of Greyhound racing with their own AllParty Parliamentary Group, Sport England still doesnot recognise Greyhound racing as an acceptedsport.

Worse still is that despite being raised with the bodyas far back as 2015, and many times since, the factremains that in 2020, Sport England still does notrecognise either Greyhound racing or the motorsport of Stock Car racing as sports.

This despite a Planning Inspector in the case ofBrandon Stadium, Coventry, citing that Stock Carracing IS a sport and falls under the auspices ofSport England. They maintain that they do not.

It does not seem to matter how many times SportEngland are approached by this, or by whom,their reply is simply a defensive ‘straight bat’ touse a sporting analogy.

It is worth restating that Greyhounds have beenracing since 1926, and Stock Cars have been inexistence since their formation in 1954.

Without the protection of Sport England, thisflawed policy and approach has led to countlessstadiums closing needlessly, including noticeablyWimbledon Greyhound Stadium, and now thevery real possibility of Belle Vue.

The key provisions of paragraph 97 within theNational Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) arevery clear in their purpose to ‘protect sports andleisure venues’.

The provisions state in the NPPF that when asports or leisure venue is at risk, that the councilrequire a robust needs assessment and viabilitystudy to be conducted.

In the case of Belle Vue, what MCC and theirplanners actually ended up receiving and thenincluding in the final decision, was a wholly biasedand not objective report, that had been preparedfor the benefit of the applicants.

The report in question had clearly been drafted tosupport the position put forward in a brief by thedevelopers who had procured it.

One reason for justifying the recommendation forapproval seems to be weighted around ‘noise’and amenity activities from the stadium. Theseare the same noise and amenity issues that existfrom the MCC owned stadium adjacent that onlyopened in 2016.

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We were always aware that the racing lease held bythe GRA at Belle Vue was for the term of 15 years,but it could be broken by either side after five years.

As the date approached for the end of the five yearperiod, we began to hear rumours of a potentialdevelopment on the stadium site. At the timethough, rumours were all they were.

In a master stroke, Simon Walmsley, the Chair of the‘Friends of Belle Vue Stadium’ group, applied toManchester City Council (MCC) for an Asset of Com-munity Value (ACV) to be recorded on their registeragainst the site at Belle Vue Stadium.

During this application process, in a rather unusualmove, Manchester City Council made a strong pointof ensuring that all of the interested parties weremade aware of the submission, and then openlyencouraged any objections to be raised.

None were forthcoming.

In July, 2018, the ‘Friends of Belle Vue Stadium’group were informed that they had been successfulin their application for the ACV.

They were in good company mind; as Manchester’sfamous Old Trafford stadium is also subject to anACV on the register.

Much to the surprise of the council themselves, inthe week before Christmas 2018, CountrysideProperties (the developers), submitted their longanticipated application for 247 houses on the site.

Clearly, aware of the usual standard periods ofnotification required for planning, craftily theywere attempting to catch everybody unaware.

To a point they were successful…or at least theywould have been.

To their credit, the MCC Planning Departmentrecognised what was afoot, and took the decisionto restart the clock on the developers plan.

In January 2019, MCC gave formal notice of theapplication which prompted us into action.

From there we initiated a letter campaign toMCC, local councillors, Manchester Mayor, AndyBurnham, and the city’s Members of Parliament.

All Party Parliamentary Group for GreyhoundsPresident, Lord David Lipsey, also wrote to MayorBurnham.

The intention at that stage was not to preventplanning, but to help preserve the heritage ofManchester and the North West and the future oftwo popular sports in the region.

Given his high profile role and media exposure,we were merely seeking support from him.

We are aware that Lord Lipsey received a politereply, but realistically it did not amount to much.

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Tenaciously over many months, we have perseveredin a genuine attempt to engage Mr Burnham in theprocess.

Reluctantly, we had to accept disappointingly thatthis was not going to be forthcoming simply becauseof the limitations of his role.

We have also contacted the Member of Parliamentfor the local constituency of Gorton, and ShadowDeputy Leader of the House of Commons, Labour’sAfzal Khan.

We met with Mr Khan in his constituency officewhere we received a warm welcome, and held a verypositive meeting.

We left feeling that we had been truly heard, andwith his advice as to how to proceed, including thatwe should contact local ward councillors.

Early the next week, we received confirmation fromhis office, that Mr Khan was going to be taking aneutral stance.

We can only speculate what formulated such achange of heart in the intervening days. It was safeto say that we were incredibly disappointed.

Far from deterred, our two campaign groups setup online petitions to ‘Save Belle Vue Stadium’ onthe change.org website, which in turn have beenpromoted through social media.

High profile supporters include such dignitaries asDerek Warwick (former Renault Formula Onedriver), Nick Tandy (Le Mans winner), StuartSmith (Stock Car World Champion) and Nicky Butt(former Manchester United footballer).

Together, and combined with traditional paperpetitions, they have attracted in excess of 20,000signatures, with supporters signing from rightacross the North West, the whole of the UK, thelowlands of mainland Europe, and even the US,Australia and New Zealand.

What the petition has shown clearly is that manythousands of people, care about the stadium andconsider it as a very special place in their lives,whether that be through the Greyhound racing orthe Stock Car racing held at the iconic venue.

One of the signatories to the petition described itextremely well by saying – “During these times ofdarkness we need to make sure that such iconicbuildings remain to lighten our future”.

We really hope this to be the case.

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We wanted to share with you just some of the manycomments made by those members of the publicwho have signed the petition, so that you can garnera real snapshot of why the ‘Grand Old Lady’ is soimportant to so many.

Jamie Bunsell: “We simply must keep our stadiumsfor social and wellbeing. Otherwise our country willbe nothing but lots of houses but nowhere else to go.”

Megan Sutton: “We are losing too many raceways.It’s really upsetting to see raceways closing for good.”

Andrew Jackson: “I've had many wonderful nights atthe dogs. It is a historic Manchester venue that needsto remain.”

Steve Brown: “Please don't let yet another trackdisappear. We need to have some recreation.”

Barbara Flowers: “I’ve spent many happy hours atBelle Vue watching our dogs run. It’s a great nightout.”

Thamenah Fielding: “This place has been enjoyed forgenerations. Aren’t we as a society losing enough ofthe good old fashioned stuff already?”

Paul Morris: “This type of venue is on the decreaseand we need to retain places for people to spendtime as a family enjoying something away from thenorm whether Stock car or dog racing.”

David Thorpe: “There are not enough sports atfamily friendly venues, where everyone from kidsto grandparents, can enjoy themselves together.”

R. Tofton: “It’s a traditional stadium that needssaving, years of history there!”

Alex Hague: “It’s an historical greyhound stadiumthat needs saving.”

Mark Kennedy: “The stadium is an iconic piece ofManchester and should be kept and preserved asa venue so future generations can enjoy it.”

Rachel Duckett: “My children love going to thistrack with their Dad. They'd be gutted if it was nolonger there.”

Simon Heenan: “Belle Vue visits brings the familytogether for some great days out.”

Ben Holland: “There are too many iconic andnostalgic venues and buildings, that are beingunnecessarily demolished. Instead we should bepreserving these sites especially when still viable!”

Simon Wincote: “I enjoy oval racing and toomany tracks are closing down for development.”

Kelly Bunsell: “To lose Belle Vue stadium wouldbe a travesty.”

From just the comments above, combined withthe large amount of people who have signed thepetition, you will see that there are so many whocare passionately about Belle Vue Stadium.

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Recognised as ‘The Home of The Derby’, WimbledonGreyhound Stadium built in 1928, was withoutdoubt one of the sport’s most impressive venues inits day. Thousands would flock to the stadium to bea part of the sport’s big nights.

From its heyday when London had as many as 25stadiums hosting Greyhound racing, one by one thetracks closed never to re-open.

Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium was one of thelarge ‘Grand Art Deco Stadiums’ along with WhiteCity, Walthamstow and Wembley.

There was no better place to watch Greyhoundracing, than at Plough Lane under the lights.

The sound made by the crowd as they anticipatedthe season’s largest event would echo throughthe rafters of the classicly built stands. It becameso notorious that it was called ‘The Derby Roar’.

The stadium also hosted weekly stock car racingevents from the autumn through the long wintersto the spring. The highlight of every season wasThe Unlimited Banger World Final which wouldattract many thousands to the capital.

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All that was to dramatically change and not for thegood.

Galliard Homes were given permission to developthe classic stadium for housing by Labour controlledMerton Council, and with it London’s last remainingGreyhound stadium was subjected to destruction.

Just as all the other stadiums before it …..Catford,Harringay, New Cross, Walthamstow, West Ham,White City the names just roll off the tongue intohistory.

Now Wimbledon was to join those illustrious namesfrom our racing past.

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So What are the Options?How Can MPs Help?

At this point in the process, taking into considerationthe effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, as we see it wehave four options:

Option 1. Sport England – Bluntly, not for the firsttime, Sport England has let down all of those whofollow or participate in both Greyhound racing andStock Car racing.

To our own knowledge, representatives have triedto address this most unsatisfactory position since2015, but have been repelled on each occasion.

Incredibly, the body does recognise and give fullprotection to some rather specialised and obscuresports including:

Aerobatic flying, Ballooning, Boccia, Caving, Croquet,Fencing, Handball, Korfball, Lacrosse, Life-saving(how is that seriously even a sport?), Parkour,Petanque, Polo, Real tennis, Rowing, Sombo and Tugof War ……

…. and yet amazingly affords absolutely NO level ofprotection at all to popular sports of the workingman such as Greyhound racing and Stock Car racing.

To us it simply beggars belief.

It follows that we would wish to encourage allMembers of Parliament to apply pressure onSport England directly through the Department ofCulture, Media and Sport, in a desperate attemptto overturn this absurd position once and for all.

In doing so, we would request that whilst theformal decision on the planning application is stillset at ‘Minded to approve’, Sport England returnto their considerations and then demand a properindependent needs assessment and viabilitystudy under paragraph 97 of the NationalPlanning Policy Framework.

Option 2. Legal Challenge - Judicial Review –Fearing the worst ‘Save Belle Vue Stadium ActionGroup’ has already sought legal counsel aboutthe decision taken by the Manchester City Councilplanning committee.

Much to our own surprise not being legal experts,‘The Opinion’ received from a respected barristerwith chambers in Manchester was that we have asufficient claim to be taken forward to a JudicialReview.

Whilst we have been cheered by this opinion, ourexcitement has been tempered by the very realcosts involved.

It follows that whilst we are confident of raisingthe necessary amount to fund such a challenge,given the nature of court cases and their usuallength; this is very much our last resort option.

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Option 3. Take Our Petition to Downing Street - Aslong ago as 2010, Prime Minister Boris Johnson haspublicly supported Greyhound racing.

As London’s Mayor first it was reported that he wasvery supportive of the Conservative MP Iain DuncanSmith and Labour MP Stella Creasey as they objectedto the development at Walthamstow Stadium.

Then, twice he was lobbied successfully in person inrelation to Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium.

Through his Deputy Mayor, Sir (now Lord) EdwardLister, he received an online petition at City Hallwhich appeared to have the desired affect.

Unfortunately, just as matters were reaching a keystage, politics then literally intervened.

Critically, with him leaving his role as Mayor, MrJohnson instead became involved with the campaignto Leave Europe.

He did have one last action before leaving City Hallconcerning Wimbledon stadium, and that was toadjudge on the planning application.

His decision to ask for further submissions allowedfor the stadium to be used for an extra year by boththe Greyhounds and Stock Cars.

This decision was then overturned by new MayorSadiq Khan, bringing an abrupt end to Wimbledonstadium.

Option 4. (And by far our preferred option)TheAsset of Community Value (ACV) is utilised tobuy the freehold of the stadium – we can notdisguise the fact that this is a major developmentin the process to save Belle Vue Stadium.

In recent days, under the terms of the ACV, wehave received a notification from ManchesterCity Council, that the owner Crown Oil wishes todispose of the freehold of the site/stadium.

This is an incredible development that affords‘Friends of Belle Vue Stadium’ the opportunity tobid for Belle Vue.

This option is definitely one where the campaignwould benefit immensely from the assistance ofMPs with any new potential owner.

If we have learnt anything as a group over recentyears, it is that these transactions only ever cometo fruition if there is cross-party political support.

Since we were informed by MCC of the decisionwe have begun to publicise and circulate thenews in an attempt to attract potential buyers tothe table.

It’s early days so far, but if any Members areaware of any potential suitors, it follows that wewould be very interested to talk to them.

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