General POLL - Email OCC Before 19th September

Have You Emailed OCC Yet?

  • Total voters
    136
  • Poll closed .
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I've just sent mine in, Included below in case it contains anything that anyone else could use.

Dear Councillors,

I’m writing to you to express my support for the proposal to build a new home for Oxford United at The Triangle.

I’m a lifelong supporter of the club and it would be fair to say that outside of my family and friends, it is the most important part of my life. Since the move to The Kassam Stadium, the club has not been in control of its own destiny and there has been an uneasy relationship between it and Mr Kassam. I think it is fair to say that this has caused many fans to worry about the club’s future and look back with regret at how the county’s only professional sports team was placed into this position. The club and all its fans deserve a better future, such as the one I believe is offered by the proposal to build a proper home at The Triangle.

Oxford United does a great deal for the community in Oxfordshire and I know that this has been recognised by Oxfordshire County Council. It could do so much more from a home that is fit for the purpose. Greater inclusivity for many underrepresented and under-catered for groups is within the county’s grasp and the legacy that could bring should not be underestimated.

I recognise that there are genuine concerns from those closest to proposed site and that they need to be addressed, however only a planning application will see the level of detail needed to mitigate their concerns and, given the constraints of time OUFC sends itself under, a decision in principle to make the land available at the meeting in September will give OUFC the opportunity to submit its proposal and further consult with those most concerned and reduce the risk to the club.

Those most vociferously against the proposals like to portray OUFC as just another commercial interest and that it is undeserving of any assistance. Under the strictest definition of what a commercial enterprise is, they are right, but of course the reality is far from that. Oxford United is an important institution for tens of thousands of people like me. It is a vital piece of the fabric that binds our community in Oxfordshire together and brings joy (and occasional misery) to us, but most of all it allows people from all different walks of life around the county to come together to have pride in something we have in common. Nothing else fulfils that in the county, and while it is true that not everyone identifies as a supporter of the club, I believe that the vast majority of people believe that the football club is a force for good in the county. Yes, it is a commercial enterprise, but to group it with a normal business is unfair and clearly not a reflection of reality.

It is right that I tell you that I do not live in Oxfordshire. I live a few miles over the county border into Gloucestershire and some opponents of the club would say that I am underserving of a voice in this debate. I disagree of course, and do so because of my dedication to supporting the team (I am a season ticket holder who attends nearly every game home and away with my son) and my ongoing links into the county. I was born at the Radcliffe Infirmary in 1968, was grew up in Didcot and Blewbury and all of my family continue to live in Oxfordshire (Eynsham, Bampton and Didcot). The club is a bond between us and we all share the same concern that it faces an existential threat due to the issues at The Kassam Stadium. Sure, I cannot vote in an election in Oxfordshire but no one can tell me that I am not a man of Oxfordshire in every respect other than my address.

Please support the club at this crucial time. I believe that it is deserving of that support and hope dearly that OCC will embrace the chance to not only help the club but to do something truly lasting for the people of Oxfordshire. And it is that community that the council represents, the WHOLE of Oxfordshire, not just Kidlington or North Oxford, but everyone. The whole of Oxfordshire has shown through the survey that it is in favour of this proposal and I’d ask you to reflect that on the 19th and allow the club to have the chance to take the next step to secure its future and to deliver something we all can be proud of.

Thank you for reading this.
 
Excellent to see some real momentum with this now - perfect timing, keep them coming.

Let’s get the positives front and centre in the minds of all members of the Cabinet 👍🏻
 
LeftSideLarry said:
I've just sent mine in, Included below in case it contains anything that anyone else could use.

Dear Councillors,

I’m writing to you to express my support for the proposal to build a new home for Oxford United at The Triangle.

I’m a lifelong supporter of the club and it would be fair to say that outside of my family and friends, it is the most important part of my life. Since the move to The Kassam Stadium, the club has not been in control of its own destiny and there has been an uneasy relationship between it and Mr Kassam. I think it is fair to say that this has caused many fans to worry about the club’s future and look back with regret at how the county’s only professional sports team was placed into this position. The club and all its fans deserve a better future, such as the one I believe is offered by the proposal to build a proper home at The Triangle.

Oxford United does a great deal for the community in Oxfordshire and I know that this has been recognised by Oxfordshire County Council. It could do so much more from a home that is fit for the purpose. Greater inclusivity for many underrepresented and under-catered for groups is within the county’s grasp and the legacy that could bring should not be underestimated.

I recognise that there are genuine concerns from those closest to proposed site and that they need to be addressed, however only a planning application will see the level of detail needed to mitigate their concerns and, given the constraints of time OUFC sends itself under, a decision in principle to make the land available at the meeting in September will give OUFC the opportunity to submit its proposal and further consult with those most concerned and reduce the risk to the club.

Those most vociferously against the proposals like to portray OUFC as just another commercial interest and that it is undeserving of any assistance. Under the strictest definition of what a commercial enterprise is, they are right, but of course the reality is far from that. Oxford United is an important institution for tens of thousands of people like me. It is a vital piece of the fabric that binds our community in Oxfordshire together and brings joy (and occasional misery) to us, but most of all it allows people from all different walks of life around the county to come together to have pride in something we have in common. Nothing else fulfils that in the county, and while it is true that not everyone identifies as a supporter of the club, I believe that the vast majority of people believe that the football club is a force for good in the county. Yes, it is a commercial enterprise, but to group it with a normal business is unfair and clearly not a reflection of reality.

It is right that I tell you that I do not live in Oxfordshire. I live a few miles over the county border into Gloucestershire and some opponents of the club would say that I am underserving of a voice in this debate. I disagree of course, and do so because of my dedication to supporting the team (I am a season ticket holder who attends nearly every game home and away with my son) and my ongoing links into the county. I was born at the Radcliffe Infirmary in 1968, was grew up in Didcot and Blewbury and all of my family continue to live in Oxfordshire (Eynsham, Bampton and Didcot). The club is a bond between us and we all share the same concern that it faces an existential threat due to the issues at The Kassam Stadium. Sure, I cannot vote in an election in Oxfordshire but no one can tell me that I am not a man of Oxfordshire in every respect other than my address.

Please support the club at this crucial time. I believe that it is deserving of that support and hope dearly that OCC will embrace the chance to not only help the club but to do something truly lasting for the people of Oxfordshire. And it is that community that the council represents, the WHOLE of Oxfordshire, not just Kidlington or North Oxford, but everyone. The whole of Oxfordshire has shown through the survey that it is in favour of this proposal and I’d ask you to reflect that on the 19th and allow the club to have the chance to take the next step to secure its future and to deliver something we all can be proud of.

Thank you for reading this.
Click to expand...
This is a wonderful letter. Actually, I think its the most persuasive and powerful message I've heard from anyone about the stadium. The way you've blended the personal and political and balanced passion with sympathy for the complexities is so effective. It tells a story I'm sure many of can relate to. Wish mine had been half as eloquent. Bravo
 
imperative if youve not sent an email to the cabinet and if you live in the county , to your own county councillor too, now!

there's a county council meeting on 13th Sept where county councillors will be discussing the county council survey results, prior to the meeting on 19th Sept

DONT assume others will do it - get your email sent asap
 
Sarge said:
imperative if youve not sent an email to the cabinet and if you live in the county , to your own county councillor too, now!

there's a county council meeting on 13th Sept where county councillors will be discussing the county council survey results, prior to the meeting on 19th Sept

DONT assume others will do it - get your email sent asap
Click to expand...
Sent now to all Councillors had one reply from Cllr Bearder who said he will look at it when time allows
 
I haven't sent mine yet, and (particularly in light of the fabulous letter sent by LeftSideLarry), thought I'd focus more on the results of the survey and the numbers who are supportive.

Here's what I'm planning to send...but I'll be more than grateful for any edits or suggestions for changes that you send me.

I wrote to you back in January (and appreciated the response you sent); I won't bother to go over the same details, although that message can be found below.

Given where we are now, regarding the club's future, I just wanted to ask you for your supportive vote on the 19th. As one of those fans who does not live in Oxford, but travels to watch the team whenever I can (twice this coming October!), I'd like to argue that although you're obviously most interested in Oxfordshire and its residents, please don't ignore the wishes of those who live further afield.

Of course, it's worth noting that two thirds (63% to 70%) of Oxfordshire residents responded that Oxford United had "fully" or "mostly" addressed the different priorities, and that percentage increases dramatically (to 90% and more) when leaving out those who live within a 2-mile radius of the proposed site. I'm really pleased to see that Council officers also think that, based on the information provided by Oxford United, the seven priorities have been "mostly" addressed.

One can argue (and some certainly do!) that those living with two miles of a stadium will be the most impacted. However, two miles is an appreciable distance—it's possible to live within two miles of a 50,000-seat stadium and barely be aware of its existence. And in this case we're talking about a stadium with a capacity of 12,000 with a railway station and plenty of park-and-ride parking on the side furthest from Kidlington.

Without access to the actual numbers (none of the report's annexes seem to be available) it's difficult to be sure, but going by the report published by BBC South (Claire Starr, 6th September) between 19% and 40% of respondents living in the two-mile radius felt that the priorities had been "fully" addressed. (She provides figures of "between 50 and 60%", corresponding to the "fully addressed" category, for the data as a whole, and so I assume that she has not considered those respondents who viewed the priorities as being "mostly addressed".) In other words, it's reasonable to assume that even among those living within a two-mile radius, somewhere between a quarter and a half of all respondents felt that the priorities had been met. And that, quite frankly, is amazing, given the campaign of disinformation that has been waged by "Friends" of Stratfield Brake and their "cautiously neutral" (Newspeak for "totally opposed") supporters.

It's also really interesting that almost half of all respondents were not fans of Oxford United, and one can assume that all of those who come from within the two-mile radius and felt that the priorities were not met fall within that group of non-fans. But given that 29% of respondents were not from Oxfordshire and approximately 90% felt that the priorities were fully or mostly addressed, this seems to indicate that many people who do not support Oxford United were interested enough to complete the survey. Many of them will have been fans of other teams, who will be delighted at the ease of transport links now available to them. At least one "cautiously neutral" person has argued that their opinion should not count. But these are fans who'll be coming into Oxford to watch their team, many of whom will be staying in Oxford, all of whom will be spending money in Oxford. The same is true, of course, for those many fans of Oxford United, who, like me, come whenever we can, from all around the world.

One other concern that I'd like to mention is the final sentence of paragraph 42 (p. 19), which seems to undercut completely any safeguards to protect the ground and the club in the event of the Council deciding to sell, rather than lease, the land. "If Cabinet were to agree to a freehold sale, OCC would restrict the use of the site to being a football stadium via freehold covenants...OCC could (at its discretion) vary the restrictions/obligations in future in return for payment." In other words, there would appear to be no safeguards at all. This is extremely worrying.

It would be absolutely devastating to so many people if Oxford United were to fold thanks to an inability to have land for a new stadium. Oxfordshire has an opportunity to have a world-class stadium; I implore you to allow this to happen.

With best wishes,
 
Jon-ioualways said:
I haven't sent mine yet, and (particularly in light of the fabulous letter sent by LeftSideLarry), thought I'd focus more on the results of the survey and the numbers who are supportive.

Here's what I'm planning to send...but I'll be more than grateful for any edits or suggestions for changes that you send me.

I wrote to you back in January (and appreciated the response you sent); I won't bother to go over the same details, although that message can be found below.

Given where we are now, regarding the club's future, I just wanted to ask you for your supportive vote on the 19th. As one of those fans who does not live in Oxford, but travels to watch the team whenever I can (twice this coming October!), I'd like to argue that although you're obviously most interested in Oxfordshire and its residents, please don't ignore the wishes of those who live further afield.

Of course, it's worth noting that two thirds (63% to 70%) of Oxfordshire residents responded that Oxford United had "fully" or "mostly" addressed the different priorities, and that percentage increases dramatically (to 90% and more) when leaving out those who live within a 2-mile radius of the proposed site. I'm really pleased to see that Council officers also think that, based on the information provided by Oxford United, the seven priorities have been "mostly" addressed.

One can argue (and some certainly do!) that those living with two miles of a stadium will be the most impacted. However, two miles is an appreciable distance—it's possible to live within two miles of a 50,000-seat stadium and barely be aware of its existence. And in this case we're talking about a stadium with a capacity of 12,000 with a railway station and plenty of park-and-ride parking on the side furthest from Kidlington.

Without access to the actual numbers (none of the report's annexes seem to be available) it's difficult to be sure, but going by the report published by BBC South (Claire Starr, 6th September) between 19% and 40% of respondents living in the two-mile radius felt that the priorities had been "fully" addressed. (She provides figures of "between 50 and 60%", corresponding to the "fully addressed" category, for the data as a whole, and so I assume that she has not considered those respondents who viewed the priorities as being "mostly addressed".) In other words, it's reasonable to assume that even among those living within a two-mile radius, somewhere between a quarter and a half of all respondents felt that the priorities had been met. And that, quite frankly, is amazing, given the campaign of disinformation that has been waged by "Friends" of Stratfield Brake and their "cautiously neutral" (Newspeak for "totally opposed") supporters.

It's also really interesting that almost half of all respondents were not fans of Oxford United, and one can assume that all of those who come from within the two-mile radius and felt that the priorities were not met fall within that group of non-fans. But given that 29% of respondents were not from Oxfordshire and approximately 90% felt that the priorities were fully or mostly addressed, this seems to indicate that many people who do not support Oxford United were interested enough to complete the survey. Many of them will have been fans of other teams, who will be delighted at the ease of transport links now available to them. At least one "cautiously neutral" person has argued that their opinion should not count. But these are fans who'll be coming into Oxford to watch their team, many of whom will be staying in Oxford, all of whom will be spending money in Oxford. The same is true, of course, for those many fans of Oxford United, who, like me, come whenever we can, from all around the world.

One other concern that I'd like to mention is the final sentence of paragraph 42 (p. 19), which seems to undercut completely any safeguards to protect the ground and the club in the event of the Council deciding to sell, rather than lease, the land. "If Cabinet were to agree to a freehold sale, OCC would restrict the use of the site to being a football stadium via freehold covenants...OCC could (at its discretion) vary the restrictions/obligations in future in return for payment." In other words, there would appear to be no safeguards at all. This is extremely worrying.

It would be absolutely devastating to so many people if Oxford United were to fold thanks to an inability to have land for a new stadium. Oxfordshire has an opportunity to have a world-class stadium; I implore you to allow this to happen.

With best wishes,
Click to expand...
safeguards were covered in the stand united meeting that just finished
 
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Reactions: MJB
Jon-ioualways said:
I haven't sent mine yet, and (particularly in light of the fabulous letter sent by LeftSideLarry), thought I'd focus more on the results of the survey and the numbers who are supportive.

Here's what I'm planning to send...but I'll be more than grateful for any edits or suggestions for changes that you send me.

I wrote to you back in January (and appreciated the response you sent); I won't bother to go over the same details, although that message can be found below.

Given where we are now, regarding the club's future, I just wanted to ask you for your supportive vote on the 19th. As one of those fans who does not live in Oxford, but travels to watch the team whenever I can (twice this coming October!), I'd like to argue that although you're obviously most interested in Oxfordshire and its residents, please don't ignore the wishes of those who live further afield.

Of course, it's worth noting that two thirds (63% to 70%) of Oxfordshire residents responded that Oxford United had "fully" or "mostly" addressed the different priorities, and that percentage increases dramatically (to 90% and more) when leaving out those who live within a 2-mile radius of the proposed site. I'm really pleased to see that Council officers also think that, based on the information provided by Oxford United, the seven priorities have been "mostly" addressed.

One can argue (and some certainly do!) that those living with two miles of a stadium will be the most impacted. However, two miles is an appreciable distance—it's possible to live within two miles of a 50,000-seat stadium and barely be aware of its existence. And in this case we're talking about a stadium with a capacity of 12,000 with a railway station and plenty of park-and-ride parking on the side furthest from Kidlington.

Without access to the actual numbers (none of the report's annexes seem to be available) it's difficult to be sure, but going by the report published by BBC South (Claire Starr, 6th September) between 19% and 40% of respondents living in the two-mile radius felt that the priorities had been "fully" addressed. (She provides figures of "between 50 and 60%", corresponding to the "fully addressed" category, for the data as a whole, and so I assume that she has not considered those respondents who viewed the priorities as being "mostly addressed".) In other words, it's reasonable to assume that even among those living within a two-mile radius, somewhere between a quarter and a half of all respondents felt that the priorities had been met. And that, quite frankly, is amazing, given the campaign of disinformation that has been waged by "Friends" of Stratfield Brake and their "cautiously neutral" (Newspeak for "totally opposed") supporters.

It's also really interesting that almost half of all respondents were not fans of Oxford United, and one can assume that all of those who come from within the two-mile radius and felt that the priorities were not met fall within that group of non-fans. But given that 29% of respondents were not from Oxfordshire and approximately 90% felt that the priorities were fully or mostly addressed, this seems to indicate that many people who do not support Oxford United were interested enough to complete the survey. Many of them will have been fans of other teams, who will be delighted at the ease of transport links now available to them. At least one "cautiously neutral" person has argued that their opinion should not count. But these are fans who'll be coming into Oxford to watch their team, many of whom will be staying in Oxford, all of whom will be spending money in Oxford. The same is true, of course, for those many fans of Oxford United, who, like me, come whenever we can, from all around the world.

One other concern that I'd like to mention is the final sentence of paragraph 42 (p. 19), which seems to undercut completely any safeguards to protect the ground and the club in the event of the Council deciding to sell, rather than lease, the land. "If Cabinet were to agree to a freehold sale, OCC would restrict the use of the site to being a football stadium via freehold covenants...OCC could (at its discretion) vary the restrictions/obligations in future in return for payment." In other words, there would appear to be no safeguards at all. This is extremely worrying.

It would be absolutely devastating to so many people if Oxford United were to fold thanks to an inability to have land for a new stadium. Oxfordshire has an opportunity to have a world-class stadium; I implore you to allow this to happen.

With best wishes,
Click to expand...

The stadium capacity is planned for 16,000 not 12,000 isn't it?
 
Thanks, everyone! See, this is why it's good to have people read over what you write before you send or publish it!
Sarge said:
safeguards were covered in the stand united meeting that just finished
Click to expand...
How exactly were they covered, Sarge? The wording in the report is pretty awful as it stands.
 
Jon-ioualways said:
Thanks, everyone! See, this is why it's good to have people read over what you write before you send or publish it!

How exactly were they covered, Sarge? The wording in the report is pretty awful as it stands.
Click to expand...
quite emphatically - i think @MJB was kind of taking notes?
 
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