New Stadium Plans - The Triangle - Planning

I had a very interesting conversation with someone last night who I will only describe as being very close to both sides of these discussions. They said that the delays in agreeing the HoTs was entirely political with certain individuals determined to prevent this from being agrees before the planning consultation had closed and local elections held. As was mentioned on a tweet above, that enabled some to present an anti-stadium position to Kidlington and FoSB and a pro-stadium position with in Oxford and with the club.

The club saw this and their statement a few weeks back about the delays in HoTs being agreed has brought all of this into the public domain. Excellent work by @SwissYellow and several others on here has exposed individuals and the games they were playing. As a result, there are now real splits within local parties and their councils, and the Lib Dems have seen this as a huge own goal that could ultimately cost them a parliamentary seat come the end of the year.

There have been questions raised at a very senior level about why some have put the views of a relatively tiny opposition group, prominent figures of which are already elected or standing for election for the Green Party, above the views of tens of thousands of local football supporters and even more who support progress.

They were convinced that the HoTs will be agreed, but conveniently after 22nd April and possibly after 2nd May local elections. They even said that they wouldn't have been surprised to have seen those who have been actively delaying everything to come out in support of the club between the local elections and the playoff games to completely double down or their blatant hypocrisy!

They also said that there is a lot of support from within CDC, and an element of frustration that the additional traffic modelling exercise has given an opportunity to muddy the waters a little. Traffic is the one major stumbling block, but this is far from being unsurmountable. It was also said that the club are working incredibly hard behind the scenes to smooth the way with all relevant parties. There were concerns that Niall McWilliams leaving would leave a hole in these discussions as it was something he was fantastic at. But that hole has been filled with others and indications are that positive progress is being made at all levels.

But, and this is the crucial bit. There are no guarantees on anything. So every one of us still needs to do our bit. If you haven't done so already then please register your support on the planning portal. And please continue to contact your local councillors, and proposed councillors to reiterate how your vote, locally and nationally will depend on their support for the stadium.

We are at the business end of things both on and off the pitch and we have to give out support in numbers on and off the pitch too.

Let us all Stand United and show everyone how incredible this club and our supporters really are.
 
Billyox said:
Always knew Kidlington was a town
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If too many people live in Kidlington to have a football stadium built near by it then how does London, a place with a population 500 times the size have over 10 stadiums inside of it?

The Kassam Stadium is purpose built but then so will the new one be? Not many football stadiums built by accident.


Does he even have the right site? What sports use the Triangle?
 
SirAndyOfCrosby said:
I suspect the bulk of these local politicians are completely taken aback by the level of (justifiable) scrutiny they now find themselves under.

You have to remember that local politics typically exists in a tiny vaccum, the councillors themselves often just cosplaying some wet dream of doing it on a national scale and trying to climb a greasy pole - whilst those in the community who fully engage are often simply the members of the public with the most time, money and energy to do so (the venn diagram of which overlaps significantly with 'nimby').

These people are used to, and entirely comfortable with, their low level meetings, hustings, canvassing and general politicking - that for 99% of the time requires them to do very little genuine engagement with their constituents.

It changes with something as significant as this. Inboxes over-flowing, replies on social media, being held accountable for previous comments and any hyprocrisy. This is democracy in action.

You can see from the above LD comments that there is a nervousness and reticence to outwardly opposing the stadium where once there may have been forthright confidence in doing so.

These people are fallible and can be persuaded.

So keep the pressure on, and keep reminding these people that they serve us.
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I fully agree about keeping the pressure on.

But having worked in Local Govt, local politicians are involved for numerous reasons. Those as you say "trying to climb the greasy pole" are often ones that make things happen.

In my experience, there are 3 types of Councillor:
A) Only focused on their immediate area (I'd say Gant, LM etc)
B) Those focused on their area and the wider Council area
C) Those looking to build a political career who will likewise focus on the overall area, as well as their area.

The key is the balance of the above. In my experience, more of B & C and things happen. Hopefully A in the end isn't the dominant group.

But I would add it isn't helpful for the cause to lump Councillors in as all the same. I say that even after making it very clear to my local Councillor that I won't be able to vote for them or their party in future elections if the stadium doesn't happen.

Edit: I'm not surprised about what happened in the Council meeting. One Local Authority I worked for, it was a lot worse in the Council Chamber particularly when they agreed budgets even with the media in attendance. The Council Chamber was known as the 'Playground' which is a telling name for the quality of discourse.
 
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Billyox said:
The new traffic modeling with the north Oxford has now been submitted so much for fosb 3 month delay
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Rather worryingly everything in that document refers to 2031, and not 2026 as the opening date, together with a statement saying that our agreement at The Kassam Stadium comes to an end in 2031!!!

WTF does it mean? Or am I misunderstanding it? This needs urgently clearing up by the club.
 
Colin B said:
Rather worryingly everything in that document refers to 2031, and not 2026 as the opening date, together with a statement saying that our agreement at The Kassam Stadium comes to an end in 2031!!!

WTF does it mean? Or am I misunderstanding it? This needs urgently clearing up by the club.
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So the traffic modeling software was called north Oxford 2031 I would imagine it's just a complete mistake on our part this modeling takes everything in to account with what is being built now like the north Oxford complex which by pear tree/a40/a44 and any other developments around the area which will impact traffic
 
The traffic modelling software is called Oxford 2031 and is designed to model future as well as current usage. I wouldn't read anything into the date being used, however a statement from the stadium team to clarify this would be helpful.

Edit. Just noticed the part that talks of leaving the Kassam in 2031. That is careless and needs to be rectified. Whilst I've no doubt that it will be seen as a genuine typo it plays into the hands of others.
 
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This is the direct quote from it. I sincerely hope this is a typo, but pretty bloody careless if it is!!!

OUFC is a professional football club currently based at Kassam Stadium in the Littlemore area of Oxford, which currently competes in League One of the English Football League. With the current agreement to use the Kassam Stadium coming to an end in 2031 and with no option to renew, there is an urgent need to develop a new stadium to protect the future existence of one of the oldest football clubs in the UK.
 
Colin B said:
This is the direct quote from it. I sincerely hope this is a typo, but pretty bloody careless if it is!!!

OUFC is a professional football club currently based at Kassam Stadium in the Littlemore area of Oxford, which currently competes in League One of the English Football League. With the current agreement to use the Kassam Stadium coming to an end in 2031 and with no option to renew, there is an urgent need to develop a new stadium to protect the future existence of one of the oldest football clubs in the UK.
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Yes, just saw this part and you're right that it is careless.
 
Colin B said:
This is the direct quote from it. I sincerely hope this is a typo, but pretty bloody careless if it is!!!

OUFC is a professional football club currently based at Kassam Stadium in the Littlemore area of Oxford, which currently competes in League One of the English Football League. With the current agreement to use the Kassam Stadium coming to an end in 2031 and with no option to renew, there is an urgent need to develop a new stadium to protect the future existence of one of the oldest football clubs in the UK.
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Please excuse my ignorance, but who wrote that?
 
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