NTFC Supporters Ltd

After welcoming Cllr Hadland and Cllr Eldred to the meeting Cllr Hadland said that he was pleased to attend and talk about the issues surrounding the Sixfields Development and would be prepared to attend further meetings.

1. Anthony Collett asked Cllr Hadland to comment on the following: You have been deliberating the Sixfields Area action plan now for over two years as far as I understand, the Scrutiny meeting in January overturned the Council’s decision and stated more work must be done to test the four sites. What work has been done since then to test these four sites? Why has this process taken so long?

Cllr Hadland said that the process was part of an overall plan involving the Town Centre and other interested parties such as the WNDC. Daventry District Council and South Northants District Council were all involved in the process. The Town Centre report had been published 2 or 3 weeks ago and a Shopping Study was ongoing. It was not possible to give dates by when the process would be completed as the process had to ensure that the final decision was not knocked back. Cllr Hadland said that he wanted the process completed and he wanted NTFC to prosper.

Cllr Hadland then commented on the reports in the C&E that the Borough Council had been slow to recognise NTFC’s promotion to League 1 and that a letter had been printed in today’s C&E from himself detailing what had happened. Cllr Hadland expressed disappointment that the C&E were still trying to show the Council in a bad light over the matter.

2. Anthony Collett asked will a decision be made in August as stated at the Scrutiny meeting on the preferred site of the District Centre.

Cllr Hadland replied that a date had never been given other than Spring 2008 for a final decision on the placement of the District Centre

3. Anthony Collett said that he and NTFC had always understood that by August 2006 NBC would make a decision on the preferred siting of the District Centre.

Cllr Hadland said that he did not think this date had been given and that NTFC were fully aware of how matters were progressing.

Vince Smith said that the August date for a decision was the time when everyone at the meeting, NTFC Supporters and the Town generally were expecting a decision to be made – if NBC were not going to make a decision then why had NBC or Cllr Hadland not previously made a statement particularly as Cllr Hadland had taken the time to clarify time scales relating to the Mayors Reception held for NTFC which in comparison was a very minor issue.

Cllr Hadland repeated that NTFC were aware that August was not a date by which a decision would be made and should have told Supporters.

Anthony Collett restated that as far as he knew NTFC were fully expecting a decision in August 2006.

Various persons attending expressed concern over the past and ongoing delays pointing out that these delays would have a serious affect on the viability of NTFC.

4. Anthony Collett asked that if interested parties were being consulted Why had NTFC Supporters Limited not been consulted as an interested party?

Cllr Hadland confirmed that NTFC Supporters Ltd would be consulted when the process had reached the preferred option stage. Cllr Hadland said that the plans and consultations were expected to be competed by 2009.

5. Anthony Collett said we have heard rumours that Labour and the Liberal Democrats are behind NTFC in the placing of the District Centre on the Lower Plateau. Is it just the Conservatives who are against this? Is this correct? What are your views on this?

Cllr Hadland said that the Conservatives had not discussed any preferences and that the Labour and Liberal groups may have expressed a view as they saw it as an "election opportunity". He added that as the Conservatives were the party in office they could not express a preference as this could be challenged at a later date.

6. Anthony Collett commented that NBC had stated publicly that there is no reason why the Training Ground for NTFC, Athletics Track and football pitches for the public cannot proceed on the land near the new Upton housing, why has NTFC not heard anything on this? Why is this not proceeding? What are the time-scales?

Cllr Hadland replied that NBC had received some plans from NTFC and had advised that the plans did not fit the land area and they were waiting for NTFC to respond with revised plans.

Anthony Collett said that as far as he was aware NTFC were still waiting to hear from NBC that the project is feasible.

Cllr Hadland said that he believed the matter was now with NTFC and he would personally investigate this.

7. Anthony Collett asked Cllr Hadland to comment on what was happening at neighbouring Councils citing examples at Corby, Kettering & MK’s: (Corby Council is putting £1million of tax payers’ money in to improving Rockingham Triangle - Kettering Council has been working with KTFC and Dev Corp to look at options for them - Milton Keynes council have assisted MK Dons with tax payers’ money for their great new stadium) and as NBC has a policy of sustaining League football in Northampton and supporting NTFC, what has been done in the last 12 months in support of this policy?

 Cllr Hadland said that in support of NTFC NBC had driven the process forward and had built the Sixfields Stadium in the first place. As regards MK’s the provision of a stadium was in the local plan and there was a statutory requirement to build one.

NBC had already put taxpayers money into building the stadium and in 2004 the Conservative administration had transferred the stadium to NTFC. At that time NBC were told by NTFC that the proposed Hotel would fund the stadium improvements but 3 months later NTFC had greater plans which did not tie in with the lease and that it would have been simpler if all plans were revealed at outset.

David Linnell pointed out that it had not all been one way in terms of funding the cost of the stadium – much of the cost and in particular land clearance was a Statutory requirement and these costs would have been incurred anyway, furthermore NTFC via the Football Foundation had obtained funding of £1million. David added that he was very familiar with the workings of Local Authorities and planning departments and that the whole process was taking far too long.

Cllr Hadland said that if the area had been used as parkland then the ground clearance would not have been necessary (David Linnell challenged this in view of the toxic nature of the waste that had to be removed).

Cllr Hadland said that one of the reasons for the delay was the shortage of Planning Officers both locally and Nationally although he agreed that the overall process for planning in Northampton is too slow.

8. Anthony Collett pointed out that NTFC saves the tax payer £750,000 to £1million per year by taking over the running of Sixfields. The Council will receive a capital sum for the sale of Athletics area (Approximately £2 million), if the preferred site is on the new link road / lower plateau at Sixfields. None of the other options will benefit the tax payer / community, has this been taken into account by NBC or when testing the four options?

Cllr Hadland said that he had not seen these figures but the roles of NBC as a planing authority and land owner are separate and any decision made must be sustainable for all reasons although he did agree that the biggest capital sum that would be payable to NBC would come from development on the lower plateau. As regards the cost savings since NTFC had taken over the running of the Stadium Cllr Hadland thought that these were around £375,000 per year.

9. Anthony Collett asked If there is not a favourable decision for NTFC and our Chairman leaves NTFC, would the Council be prepared to take on the running losses again of Sixfields Stadium?

Cllr Hadland said that it was not possible for him to comment as he would have to take such a matter back to the Council.

10. Anthony Collett said that many supporters have stated that NTFC Supporters Limited should put candidates up for the next local elections, what are your thoughts on this?

Cllr Hadland stated that it was a Free Country and he had no problem with anyone standing in a Local election (adding that anyone who wanted to stand must be mad). However a single issue Councillor was not a good idea as any elected Councillor would be expected to deal with many other issues and views of constituents.

11. Anthony Collett stated that NTFC Supporters Limited wrote to the council on 24^th October 2005 and again on 11^th December 2005 and have not had a reply to our questions?

Cllr Hadland said that he was not aware of these letters and Anthony confirmed that these were letters sent following meetings in October 2005 with Cllr John Caswell and Clive Thomas. Copies of the letters were passed to Cllr Hadland and it was agreed that copies of the letters would also be emailed to Cllr Hadland.

12. Vince Smith asked if NBC had taken too much on by linking the Town Centre with the District Centre and matter would be resolved quicker if they were dealt with separately adding that many of the Town Centre problems had been brought about by NBC granting permission for out of town retail outlets,

Cllr Hadland said that it was a planning requirement that they were dealt with as one and that objections by NBC to out of town outlets had been overruled.

13. Linda Smith asked what action would now be taken to prevent further delays and if there were plans to speed up the process

Cllr Hadland restated that the shortage of planning officers was a major problem which they were trying to resolve but they did have plans to counteract the problems which had caused delays to date.

Anthony Collett thanked Cllr Hadland for attending and for his offer to attend further meetings.

Please note these will form part of the minutes of the NTFC Supporters Ltd Board Meeting held on 28th July 2006 and are subject to approval at the next NTFC Supporters Ltd Board Meeting