Hull City Council : Press releases
Leader of Hull City Council, Councillor Stephen Brady said:
"We are extremely sad and disappointed to learn today that the decision has been made to go ahead with the installation of a 3G pitch at the Airco Arena, despite our stated major concerns about the impact on community users and the fact that we were having ongoing and productive discussions with both the Club and the Premier League about providing an acceptable alternative facility on the nearby hockey pitches.
"Together with the City MPs, we have bent over backwards to support Hull City AFC in its bid to become a Category 2 Training Academy - including promising to expedite any planning or other permissions required to ensure they were able to meet the deadline set by the Premier League, which through our lobbying we also managed to get extended following the meeting between the Club and the Premier League Youth Development Team last Friday, as reported on Saturday. This is despite not being consulted on the Club's plans, including the impacts on the existing community users.
"To our surprise, on Monday, we received a letter from the Club in relation to the hockey pitch proposal which made certain requests of the Council which could not possibly or legally be fulfilled, these were:
Leader of Hull City Council, Councillor Stephen Brady said:
"We are extremely sad and disappointed to learn today that the decision has been made to go ahead with the installation of a 3G pitch at the Airco Arena, despite our stated major concerns about the impact on community users and the fact that we were having ongoing and productive discussions with both the Club and the Premier League about providing an acceptable alternative facility on the nearby hockey pitches.
"Together with the City MPs, we have bent over backwards to support Hull City AFC in its bid to become a Category 2 Training Academy - including promising to expedite any planning or other permissions required to ensure they were able to meet the deadline set by the Premier League, which through our lobbying we also managed to get extended following the meeting between the Club and the Premier League Youth Development Team last Friday, as reported on Saturday. This is despite not being consulted on the Club's plans, including the impacts on the existing community users.
"To our surprise, on Monday, we received a letter from the Club in relation to the hockey pitch proposal which made certain requests of the Council which could not possibly or legally be fulfilled, these were:
- a guarantee that the dome pitch would be granted planning consent (this would be a pre-determination and would be unlawful);
- a contribution of £425,000 from the Council to the £850,000 cost of providing the dome facility;
- the granting of business rates relief, for both the Airco Arena and the KC Stadium, for a period of 18-months (this is illegal).
"On receipt of this letter, we advised the Club immediately that we could not meet these stipulations and why. We also restated our view that there was an alternative acceptable to the Club, the Premier League and which did not impact on community users. We are aware that the Premier League deadline is not until July, by when formal planning consent could be in place.
"As owners of the KC Stadium and the Airco Arena we are now considering all of our options in light of the action that has been taken by the Club today.
"In the meantime, we will continue to do everything in our power to support the existing community clubs to find alternative facilities in the City and our offer of working with the Club, the Premier League and our local MPs to provide the acceptable alternative, through the provision of a dome over the hockey pitches, remains on the table."
