16th December 1999
16th December 1999 ATHLETIC received some Christmas cheer in this morning's post as they learned that Mark Hotte has escaped with only a one-match ban.
There had been fears the defender might be handed a three-game suspension for his sending off in Saturday's FA Cup clash at Preston. Referee Paul Danson's report has, however, described the foul on Icelandic international Bjarki Gunnlaugsson as deliberately pulling back an opponent to deny a goalscoring opportunity. This merits missing one match whereas had it been deemed violent conduct it would have been three. The upshot is that Hotte is ruled out of the home Boxing Day match against Scunthorpe United. Craig Dudley, who was a substitute at Deepdale on Saturday, played a full 90 minutes in last night's reserve-team match at Birmingham City. The 20-year-old striker is easing his way back into action following a thigh strain.
Full-back
Jordon Tait also came through the full game on his return from a hernia
operation. Athletic had more good news on the injury front with Stuart
Thom possibly only a fortnight away from a return to full training. Thom
has been out for over two months after fracturing his shoulder following
a collision with 'keeper Gary Kelly in the home victory over Luton. Supporters
wanting to travel by coach to Cambridge on Saturday are urged to book as
soon as possible. The cost is £14 for the executive coach and £11
for standard travel, departing 9.30 am. Bookings are also being taken for
the Stoke match on Tuesday, December 28. The coach leaves at 12.30 pm and
the prices are £7.75 for executive and £6 standard. Supporters
Association members will be entitled to a discount of 10 per cent.
Second bid for
town green status rejected
A
BID to make Clayton playing fields a town green and scupper plans for a
new sports stadium looks doomed before it has even been considered. Members
of Oldham Council, meeting as trustees, decided that, when the time is
right, they will reject an application to give the fields protected status.
If the bid, by members of the Clayton Action Group, is successful at appeal,
or cannot be refused on legal grounds, it would effectively mean the end
of the £20 million Sports Park 2000 scheme on the site. But Liberal
Democrat members called the recommendation to refuse the plan before it
is even properly considered "farcical". The reasons given for the objection
are that the Charity Commission itself advises that town green status should
be resisted by the council, as trustee, because of potential adverse effects
on the charity. In the future, even beneficial changes to the land, such
as new changing rooms or facilities, could be blocked because of the new
level of protection, if it were granted. But Councillor Chris Hilyer said
the report given to trustees by council officers, and the early vote to
refuse the bid, were not satisfactory, calling the details "skimpy". He
added: "The application to the Charity Commission was made by a small group.
Two months or so later we are being asked to ratify it retrospectively
and approve the specifications of the new pitches.
"It
says this meeting is to approve detailed specifications. But this is more
a summary. It is not detailed enough." Councillor Hilyer said that the
report moved in four paragraphs from saying the town green application
was at too early a stage to comment, to a recommendation to reject it.
He added: "I cannot see any merit in any of the recommendations." He was
backed by Councillor Christine Dugdale, who said that any covenant protecting
the replacement fields in future could not be as strong as town green status
for the current ones. She added: "Covenants can be got round in the same
way as trusts can be. "It is totally unenforceable. The real motivation
behind all this is not enhancement of the fields or the trust, it is the
price that has to be paid to make this prime site available for development."
Councillor Dugdale said any protection of the current fields would enhance
the trust. In the first stage of the meeting, trustees heard that because
of the poor state of the current pitches, the council subsidises their
maintenance to the tune of around £35,000 a year. Councillors also
had access to reports from chartered surveyors and the Sports Turf Research
Institute, detailing the pros and cons of the land swop. Councillor Peter
Dean said the issue of the fields should be separated from politics, with
trustees voting solely on what was best for Clayton. He added that with
more pitches, of better quality, with better facilities, nobody could say
that the land swop was detrimental to the trust. He said: "It is a significant
improvement. And it is quite clear the Charity Commission is against this
town green submission because it ties our hands and acts against the trust
deed." Councillor David Jones said members who thought the report was flimsy
were "revelling in ignorance", because extensive information was available
to councillors. He added that nothing had changed since the last town green
bid failed, and also refuted criticisms that councillors had a conflict
of interests in the matter. He said: "Some people may have difficulties
sorting out the roles they hold, but I don't. "We know clearly what our
duties are as trustees and as councillors." The councillors voted on three
motions to close the trustees meeting. They unanimously agreed to note
the report given to them, voted by 34 to 19 in favour of approving the
specifications of the replacement fields, and along party lines, by 32
to 23, to authorise the making of an objection to the town-green bid at
the appropriate time.
We'll battle
in court, says action group
MEMBERS
of the Clayton Action Group say last night's meeting has changed nothing
in their fight to protect the fields. They believe their town-green application
cannot be refused on legal grounds, and say that if the two remaining hurdles
to developers are cleared _ the town-green bid and the Charity Commission
land-swop _ the next stop will be the courts. The group spokesman, Simon
Hewitt, said: "We will have a group meeting, and I will put forward a resolution
that we ask for Oldham Council to be replaced as trustees _perhaps by the
Charity Commission. "There is a clear faction within the council which
is determined to sell the land."
Mr
Hewitt, who sat in the gallery during the meeting, along with around 20
other members of the public, said a number of issues were raised that he
hoped to capitalise on. He added: "Voting was split down political lines,
and it was quite obvious that Keith Coates (Director of Economic Development)
admitted that the replacement land is only one acre larger, and uses the
B&Q buffer zone to make up the shortfall." Original estimates claimed
that the land would be four acres larger. But Mr Hewitt claimed the biggest
mistake the council was making was to say that the land has no value. The
meeting heard that, because the fields can only be used for sport, and
sport is a loss-making activity for the local authority, "the value of
the asset held in trust, whether on the present site or on the replacement
site, is nil". But Mr Hewitt said: "Marks and Spencer put a £40 million
value on it 10 years ago. "Clayton playing fields has no value at the minute,
but only as long as this Unitary Development Plan is in place _ and it
is being redrawn.
"There
is nothing to stop the UDP removing that status, and the value could go
up in the next 12 months to £25 million. There are 21 acres there,
and currently land in the area is going at £1.2 million an acre.
"They know it is worth an awful lot of money." He added that while the
general recommendation of the Charity Commission would be to refuse the
town-green bid, the guidelines were only general and each scheme must be
considered individually. Mr Hewitt said: "English law works on case law,
and the recent Sunningwell case changed the rules. "The Charity Commission
has a blanket opinion that, in general, trustees resist a town-green bid.
But it is not specific to Clayton, and it was made in 1968. "The Sunningwell
case has blown the council out of the water."