Adrian C
First XI⭐
Just in case anybody's remotely interested
this is a report from the council meeting last night:
Essex sport, and Chelmsford City Football Club in particular, will benefit from a landmark decision by the Chelmsford Borough Council’s Planning Committee to approve the development of Melbourne Stadium.
With no members voting against the project, City can now go ahead with the planned construction of a Clubhouse, Spectator Stand and other alterations to the existing Stadium to enable it to stage football fixtures for up to 3,000 people.
Seven years of exile will be ended when the Clarets move into their new home, which will be shared with Chelmsford Athletics Club and the people of the County Town.
Present at Tuesday’s meeting in the Council Chamber of the Civic Centre was Chairman Trevor Wright and Directors Colin Mullinger and Paul Hopkins, all of whom were obviously ecstatic with the rubber-stamping of the arrangement. "At last we can truly say football’s coming home," added Trevor.
The main opposition to the application was condensed into three two-minute speeches from the public gallery. Paul Bilenkovic raised the issues of local disturbance on matchdays and claimed that many quotes in the report handed to Committee Members prior to the meeting were selective, irrelevant and inaccurate.
He made two recommendations: that a local liaison committee be set-up and that independent planners were employed to OK the plans before they were executed.
Jennifer Wells expressed concern with the Club’s Business Plan, including interest free loan from the Council. She sought assurance that the correct procedures had been followed and that three years of Club accounts had been audited.
Lastly, David Hodgson had issues with the dates surrounding the football season in the report, saying that they were broader than suggested. He went on to ask where Chelmsford City’s many Youth Teams would play and how could the assessments be based on 1,000 spectators when there is room for a potential 3,000?
Councillors took these concerns on board and rendered them insufficient to vote against such development, although they will certainly be considered when the Club and Council agree additional pecuniary terms.
There was also support from the gallery, with Trevor Wright explaining that the Club that will be returning to Chelmsford is a different one to the club that left. He then continued to state that the club wish to be a part of the community and don’t wish to impose themselves upon it.
William Evans stepped forward with his observations that Melbourne residents passed up the opportunity offered to them some time ago to attend a City game free of charge to see how it operated and to see if they still had objections to them playing in their neighbourhood.
Once public questions were finished, Councillor Hughes of the Patching Hall Ward spoke openly of hiss support for the development and that a large number of residents in his locality felt the same. There followed cautious, yet positive speeches from Councillors Horslen and Moules.
The vote then came around and there were no objectors, with 10-12 members raising their hand in support.
It’s the news that everyone at the Club had hoped for and now bricks and mortar can finally be placed at the Stadium that City hope to be playing in by the end of the year.
(taken from www.chelmsfordcityfc.com - Chris Evans)
AC
Essex sport, and Chelmsford City Football Club in particular, will benefit from a landmark decision by the Chelmsford Borough Council’s Planning Committee to approve the development of Melbourne Stadium.
With no members voting against the project, City can now go ahead with the planned construction of a Clubhouse, Spectator Stand and other alterations to the existing Stadium to enable it to stage football fixtures for up to 3,000 people.
Seven years of exile will be ended when the Clarets move into their new home, which will be shared with Chelmsford Athletics Club and the people of the County Town.
Present at Tuesday’s meeting in the Council Chamber of the Civic Centre was Chairman Trevor Wright and Directors Colin Mullinger and Paul Hopkins, all of whom were obviously ecstatic with the rubber-stamping of the arrangement. "At last we can truly say football’s coming home," added Trevor.
The main opposition to the application was condensed into three two-minute speeches from the public gallery. Paul Bilenkovic raised the issues of local disturbance on matchdays and claimed that many quotes in the report handed to Committee Members prior to the meeting were selective, irrelevant and inaccurate.
He made two recommendations: that a local liaison committee be set-up and that independent planners were employed to OK the plans before they were executed.
Jennifer Wells expressed concern with the Club’s Business Plan, including interest free loan from the Council. She sought assurance that the correct procedures had been followed and that three years of Club accounts had been audited.
Lastly, David Hodgson had issues with the dates surrounding the football season in the report, saying that they were broader than suggested. He went on to ask where Chelmsford City’s many Youth Teams would play and how could the assessments be based on 1,000 spectators when there is room for a potential 3,000?
Councillors took these concerns on board and rendered them insufficient to vote against such development, although they will certainly be considered when the Club and Council agree additional pecuniary terms.
There was also support from the gallery, with Trevor Wright explaining that the Club that will be returning to Chelmsford is a different one to the club that left. He then continued to state that the club wish to be a part of the community and don’t wish to impose themselves upon it.
William Evans stepped forward with his observations that Melbourne residents passed up the opportunity offered to them some time ago to attend a City game free of charge to see how it operated and to see if they still had objections to them playing in their neighbourhood.
Once public questions were finished, Councillor Hughes of the Patching Hall Ward spoke openly of hiss support for the development and that a large number of residents in his locality felt the same. There followed cautious, yet positive speeches from Councillors Horslen and Moules.
The vote then came around and there were no objectors, with 10-12 members raising their hand in support.
It’s the news that everyone at the Club had hoped for and now bricks and mortar can finally be placed at the Stadium that City hope to be playing in by the end of the year.
(taken from www.chelmsfordcityfc.com - Chris Evans)
AC
