Once again an apology is due for the long delay since the last edition of FOUL Mouth. For new readers we should explain that FOUL Mouth is the newsletter of the FOUL organisation (Fighting for Oxford United’s Life) in which we keep Oxford United supporters and our membership (now well over 1500) up to date with the clubs fight to move to Minchery Farm and escape the very real threat to the future existence of Oxford United.
You might be wondering how you managed to miss FOULMouth 6 - well don’t worry you didn’t miss it as we never printed it. We had FOULMouth 6 all ready to go to print but at the last moment Oxford City Council finally got round to signing the land deal with the club almost a year after it was originally announced. The heads of terms for the agreement as reported in FOULMouth 5 had already been signed but as this wasn’t legally binding it was important that the final agreement itself should be signed.
It soon became apparent that the signing of the land deal was not going to be quite the massive step forward that it had promised to be. The deal was (and still is) dependant on four things. They are:
At the time of writing none of these issues are any nearer to resolution and the first at least is now a lot further away from being resolved.
On March 13th the FOUL Committee was out in force at the High Court in London for the hearing into Nick Pentith’s application for a Judicial Review (JR) of the decision to grant planning permission to Firoz Kassam for a multiplex cinema at Minchery Farm. We were joined by Mr. Kassam and a legal clerk from the City Council. As most Oxford supporters will now know, after much delay and legal argument from both Nick Pentith and his partners British Rail Property, the judge agreed to grant a judicial review. Throughout the hearing Nick Pentith and Rail Property’s representatives were able to communicate and pass information to their barristers. Unfortunately, nobody from Oxford City Council was there who had been involved in or even present at the planning meeting that originally granted the permission.
We had expected either the Head of Planning or the chair of the Planning Committee to be in attendance to see that they were correctly represented. Even the Planning Officer who handled the application would have been able to add something to the proceedings but unfortunately he wasn’t there either. One of the key arguments of Pentith’s representatives was that the then Head of Planning, Mike Ford (no not Fordy) had misled the planning committee by stating that Oxpens was not immediately available for development, when in fact anybody who had been at the planning meeting would recall that what he actually said at some length was that it would not be available within the foreseeable future.
Following the JR decision everybody was thrown into a state of what can only be described as deep depression and panic. It was reported in the local paper that Firoz Kassam was considering whether it was worth fighting on or whether to finally throw in the towel. There were many anxious days before it was announced that he would fight on and that the City Council would fight the JR. FOUL certainly welcomed both of these decisions but we are concerned that the City Council took the original hearing far too lightly and it needs to be far better prepared and represented for the full JR hearing.
As for a likely date we understand that the City Council are pushing for a date as soon as possible and that this could be as early as May. Hopefully Nick Pentith will not introduce any delaying tactics and this will be allowed to go ahead. However, past experience does not fill us with any great hope of this happening. We are also extremely concerned that Pentith & co will win the court case and the planning permission for the multiplex will be revoked. This isn’t because we believe that their case has any merit but is due to the amount of legal resources available to Pentith and Rail Property compared to the effort and resources that Oxford City Council are making available to win the case.
Even if the JR were to be lost it isn’t necessarily the end of the line as Firoz Kassam has already submitted a new application for the multiplex which we hope will benefit from the Council and the Club being aware of the pitfalls that the JR was based on.
Mr Wells owns a small parcel of land close to the stadium complex. He started negotiations when the plan was first proposed several years ago,to sell his land at what we consider to have been a reasonable price to all concerned. These negotiations were never finalised. Since then Mr. Wells has taken advice from various parties previously associated with the Football Club. Following this advice Mr Wells’ valuation of his property has escalated considerably. There remains an unresolved dispute between Mr Wells and the Council over his claim to a right of way that runs through the Stadium.
FOUL feel that the valuation of this land quoted to us by Mr Wells’ advisors is exorbitant. However, Mr Wells is another who feels frustrated by the actions of the representatives of both the Council and the Football Club during the first abortive attempt of the Minchery development. Whilst we have great sympathy with the way he was initially treated, we feel that his latest claims are not deserving of our support.
Thames Water sold to the City Council for a relatively small sum of money the land on which a large part of Greater Leys and the new stadium complex is being built. Attached to this sale was a covenant restricting the land to only be used for non commercial leisure activities. Thames Water’s interpretation of this was that the land would be used for recreational purposes. When the Council then tried to sell the land to OUFC for £2 million (and were also prepared to give permission for other leisure projects on this land) Thames Water took legal action and won the right for compensation from Oxford City Council. They have since reluctantly agreed to a lesser figure to be paid jointly by the Council and the football club. The City Council believed they had the legal right to vary or waive the covenant; a view that was rejected by the court.
FOUL believe that Thames Water always had a legitimate case against the Council and have acted fairly since winning their Court case. We hope that Thames Water continue this stance in the future. FOUL are concerned that the officers of the City Council and Thames Water seem to be no closer to resolving this matter.
Morrells of Oxford, the company that bought and closed down the original Morrells brewery in Oxford, has threatened legal action to stop any development at Minchery Farm. Behind this action is a covenant which was granted almost 40 years ago. The covenant was granted, ironically, by Oxford City Council when the Blackbird pub was first built. This covenant effects any land that was owned by the City Council in 1962 (as Minchery Farm was) and prohibits licensed premises being built within half a mile of the Blackbird pub. The original intention was to protect the Blackbird pub from other competition on the Blackbird Leys estate. The stadium and leisure plans at Minchery Farm were of course never envisaged when this covenant was granted and FOUL firmly believe that such a development would have no damaging commercial impact on the Blackbird pub and may even be beneficial by bringing more people into the area. Morrells has stated publicly that they must protect the interests of their shareholders and as such must uphold their interest under the covenant. As with so much surrounding the Minchery Farm saga we believe Morrells’ actions are financially motivated and they appear to have no interest in the community of which Morrells has been a part of for many years. Because of this FOUL urges all Oxford supporters to continue the boycott of all Morrells pubs.
Where do we go from here/what are we waiting for?
FOUL feel strongly that there has been a co-ordinated campaign by certain individuals to maximise the obstacles put in the way of the club’s rescue plan. We believe this campaign is designed to push the club into administration or even receivership at which time these individuals will be able to asset strip United for their own benefit. We have met with some of those concerned and will be working hard to persuade all parties involved to reach reasonable settlements with the club. In the meantime we are also striving to find some way in which the fans can own a stake in the club and its stadium. We feel this way Oxford United will be able to prosper and thrive in the future.
FOUL will fight on! We won’t give in and are still behind Firoz Kassam as the only credible person to save OUFC from the receiver and the almost certain death of the club we all love.
May not only brings promotion and relegation issues to conclusion but is the season of the local parliamentary elections. With the Judicial Review still outstanding and a new round of planning applications FOUL believes it is important that we all know the candidates’ views prior to the election. With that in mind we have sent a survey to all the main political parties asking for their candidates’ opinions on the following questions:
If you are eligible to vote in the May elections make sure you know your candidates’ views or contact us at our website (www.foul.org.uk) to establish if your candidate is supportive of the Minchery Farm development.
It is likely that there will be a change of control in the Council; we realise that the Minchery Farm stadium will only be developed with the support of the members of the City Council. You can help this process by voting for candidates who support the stadium development.
There are anti-stadium candidates: the Green candidate Pat Dickson’s election leaflet states "How much longer do we have to stare at the half-buili (her spelling, not ours) stadium monstrosity? Local residents are forgotten in the courtroom dramas played out on the front pages of the Oxford Mail. The planned huge development will threaten our community. The stadium and leisure facilities are being built on green field sites. They will be surrounded by a car park for more than 2000 cars, drawing lots of new traffic to the area. This is the type of thing Greens cannot support in good conscience." She goes on to say that the Green Party stand for "Making Oxford fun!" FOUL’s view is that destroying Oxfordshire’s only professional football club is hardly likely to increase fun levels. On second thoughts the way we’re playing…..
A big thank you to Allen Seldon who donated a £222 cheque on behalf of his employer PriceWaterhouseCoopers which came from his team winning a company quiz night. He managed to convince his employers that FOUL is a good cause and that cheque was a greatly needed source of funds.
With all the hurdles that continue to be placed in the path of the club’s move to Minchery Farm and particularly since the Judicial Review decision, many supporters and local residents have asked why the club can’t just forget the whole Minchery Farm sorry saga and remain at the Manor.
The main reason that such a move is still vital to the club’s long term survival is that it remains the only way to clear the massive debts (still over £6 million) that are secured on the Manor Ground. In addition to this the Football Licensing Authority (FLA) only allow us to continue playing at the Manor against the Taylor Report requirements because of the continuing plan to move to Minchery Farm. The mutiplex cinema and related leisure development remains the only viable way that we can see of financing the development of the new stadium and saving the club.
Our fight goes on but our funds are now running low. Any donations or purchase of sweatshirts or T-shirts will help keep this campaign going.
Oxford, United will never be defeated!
