Oxfordshire County Council’s management of the process

1. OUFC has recently stated that the funds needed to build the stadium will be raised in the markets (i.e. by external bodies or individuals and not by the owners).  But in September 2023, OCC will decide whether or not to agree to lease/sell the land to OUFC.  HOW can OCC agree to sell land for a stadium when the funding is not in place?
   
   
2. The timeline for this proposal doesn’t fit with raising money in the markets.  The stages are: (1) OCC agrees to sell the land (2) OUFC apply for planning permission (3) then and only then, when planning permission has been granted will it be possible to raise money in the markets.   HOW can Cherwell District Council accept that there are very special circumstances which justify the building of a stadium and 200—bed hotel on the Green Belt if funding for the project is not in place? 
   
   
3. The OCC Cabinet papers talk of leasing/selling the land to OUFC for the development of a stadium but recent correspondence that we’ve seen demonstrates that OCC doesn’t even know which entity it will lease/sell the Triangle to!  HOW can OCC be negotiating without knowing who it is actually negotiating with? 
   
   
4. Is the Triangle going to be sold at an undervalue?
   
   
5. Problems with Kassam Stadium arose because the ownership of the stadium became separated from the ownership of the football club.  HOW is OCC going to avoid exactly the same problem happening again?  We don’t see HOW they can because they can’t control the owners of the company that builds the stadium.

OCC IS DELIBERATELY IGNORING LOCAL OPINION.

IT IS  IMPOSING THE STADIUM  ON UNWILLING COMMUNITIES.

IT FAILS TO PROPERLY INFORM RESIDENTS.

IT WILL NOT HOLD AN APPROPRIATE LOCAL CONSULTATION.
IT IS SURRENDERING COMMUNITY ASSETS TO A COMMERICIAL ENTERPRISE

OCC was right to withdraw the offer of Stratfield Brake but totally wrong  to offer the Triangle as an alternative.  Most of the same  limitations and concerns apply to the Triangle.  Over 2,000 homes are  going to be built in the immediate area and over 4,500 are planned in total for the wider area. 

We will continue to oppose a stadium on the Triangle and other local Green Belt  sites  for as long as it  takes