Northampton Town Supporters Trust would like to respond to the lodging of the planning application by Northampton Town Football Club for the land adjacent to the stadium.
The Trust will be formally responding as part of the planning application process, but would also like to issue a public statement on the proposals and the issues it raises.
The Trust has also written to the Club formally with a series of questions.
Firstly, the Trust would like to reiterate its long-standing position that it regrets the fact that the land in question is no longer earmarked for community use.
Having said that, the Trust recognises the facts of the present ownership of the land.
But the Trust does see this planning application as a key moment in the development of the club and so would like to take this opportunity to ask a series of key questions of the current Club ownership as the Trust feels commenting on the application specifically does not address the whole picture.
We note that the warehouse proposed on the NTFC registered land will be 156,797 sq ft, the largest by far of the warehouses planned.
It remains unclear as to how the Club will specifically benefit long-term from this warehouse beyond sale proceeds, profits or income being employed only towards repayment of debt?
We would therefore like to ask the following questions of the Club:
1. What are the owners’ ideas on future stadium development and protection of the remaining land?
2. Will there be space for any future expansion of the East Stand if the boundary line is kept as per the planning application?
3. Why is the new internal boundary behind East Stand delineating the car parking area from the remainder of the land, registered in the name of NTFC, so close to the East Stand?
4. How will both the NTFC and CDNL registered land development benefit the Club?
5. The Club has stated that it will use funds generated from the development to pay down debt and that is arguably a benefit for the club, making it a more attractive proposition to future buyers, and also to the owners who get their outlay repaid. But what are the owners’ ideas on future financial sustainability, and plans for ongoing investment benefit, after the debt has been paid down?
6. Club chairman Kelvin Thomas has stated publicly in recent times that some part of the industrial land (not only perhaps the NTFC registered land) might be used to produce a revenue earning asset for the Club. Can the Club please elaborate on any plans it has in this regard?
7. Our survey of fans last year - and indeed feedback from the Club's community engagement event - expressed a desire for alternative development to warehousing to be considered. What club or community development options for the land behind the East Stand, which would provide ongoing investment benefit for the club, were considered?
8. Can the Club quantify how many car parking spaces will be lost from the land development, and how many spaces the development then creates and what would happen about the space/location for disabled car parking spaces if the East Stand can be expanded?
9. Will there be additional car parking created off Duston Mill Lane?
10. If there is a net loss of car parking close to the stadium, what alternative transport options for fans travelling to Sixfields are under consideration?
