Future of Warwick Racing Club in doubt

Racing Club Warwick could be forced to close after being given two weeks to come up with money owed to Warwick District Council.



Years of frustration and uncertainty which had been bubbling beneath the surface has risen to the top following an unsuccessful meeting between leader of the district council Cllr Michael Doody and the trustees of Racing Club Warwick (RCW).

At the meeting Cllr Doody offered a new lease to the club which would see the land boundaries altered, to invest £170,000, and to give the club two training pitches in the centre of the racecourse. They would also waive the rent arrears accumulated between 2008 and 2010 of £4,900.

However, RCW trustees were looking for a new lease without any alterations, £1.2 million to develop a new clubhouse, and financial compensation of £300,000 which they claim they are owed after the council gave permission to the air cadets to build their base at the club, funded by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), without the trustees’ permission. As a result they rejected the council’s offer.

Now Cllr Doody has given RCW 14 days to pay the rent arrears or they will be threatened with foreclosure. He will also now charge them for the use of the car park and refuse to recognise them as a charitable organisation.

It is now understood that the club is considering legal action against the cadets, which is effectively against the MOD, and Cllr Doody believes the MOD will in turn take action against the council for giving them permission.

He said: “The then chairman Jim Wright said there was no problem with cadets moving in. But the new regime said it was all right him saying that but he never got support of the trustees. But none of them spoke up while all that work was being done by the cadets. I was offering a clean sheet, let’s have a new lease to provide some good on this site.

“One of the trustees did say perhaps we should have another meeting but the chairman said ‘they are a waste of time’, which hasn’t gone down too well. It’s the first time that I have offered money to an organisation and they have thrown it back in our face. I feel quite put out.

“I’m still of the opinion I would like us to move forward. A new lease, spending money on the ground has got to be good for the residents of Warwick West.

“We can foreclose on the lease and close it down, which is the last thing we want to do. The action we have is set out in the lease that they want to keep - that we have the option to remove them.”

It also casts doubt on the future of the boxing club and scouts who are based at the site.

In a club statement chairman Cllr Bob Dhillon and trustee Andrew Cowlard acknowledged Cllr Doody’s efforts to resolve the difficulties, including the “erroneous grant of part of the land within the site to the MOD” and added: “The trustees, whilst acknowledging the offer, were unable to take it up since they were under a duty to protect the existing assets of the club and did not feel that, even with the monetary compensation, it was in the interests of the members.

“Trustees are now seeking funding from various sources to enable them to build new changing rooms, a stand and a club room.

“The facilities will be made available to club members and also members of the local community.”

However, it is not all doom and gloom for RCW following a new sponsorship deal - see back page for details.

Anger at Warwick District Council ‘vendetta’ against Racing Club

RACING Club Warwick and Warwick District Council are locked in an “acrimonious” dispute after a breakdown in discussions over a new lease.

Last month leader of the district council (WDC) Cllr Michael Doody (Con, Radford Semele) met with the trustees of Racing Club Warwick (RCW) to try and find a way forward for the club which was seeking £300,000 compensation for the air cadet building built by the Ministry of Defence following WDC approval, but without club trustees’ permission, and £1.2 million towards the development of a new clubhouse.

Cllr Doody made an offer to the club of £170,000 plus the two training pitches on the Racecourse and to waive the rent arrears, which RCW rejected. As a result he wrote to the club demanding the payment of £4,900 rent arrears within 14 days, banned the club from using both the training pitches and the car park.

At a meeting of Warwick Town Council last week Cllr Michael Kinson (Con, Warwick West) said: “I’m not happy about the vendetta situation that has come about and I want further meetings to be arranged.

“I don’t want this argie bargie going on, I want it to be resolved. Obviously the club can’t operate with only one pitch and there are no pitches in this area.

“It has ended in acrimony and now there’s a spiteful, nasty element to it and they (WDC) are trying to squeeze them and push them all over the place. It’s just a complete dog’s dinner that should have been sorted out.”

Trustee Andrew Cowlard said: “They are punishing the youth of the area” and town clerk Derek Maudlin added: “The council does have a serious problem and you’d think they would try to negotiate their way out of it but instead their plan seems to be to remove the club.”

At a meeting of the WDC Executive Committee on Wednesday night councillors voted in favour of withdrawing the £120,000 that had been earmarked for ground improvements, instead stipulating it should be used for the benefit of St Mary’s Lands and the Forbes estate, one of the most deprived areas in Warwick.

Cllr Sue Gallagher (Con, Leek Wootton) said: “This is a sad day for Warwick and a sad day for Racing Club Warwick. I don’t think we’re ever going to agree. The people who are missing out are the people of west Warwick.”

Cllr Les Caborn (Con, Lapworth) added: “If we had made a similar offer to any other sports club we would have had our hands snapped off.”

There have been suggestions of RWC taking legal action against the council for giving the MOD permission to build the air cadet building. However, Cllr Michael Coker (Con, Kenilworth Abbey) contrasted the £300,000 asked for with the £170,000 offered, and suggested Racing Club were unlikely to win a court case.

He said: “We want to support Racing Club in future but this argument has to stop because there is a win for both sides.”

At the town council meeting last week councillors suggested that mayor of Warwick, Cllr Trudy Offer, put herself forward as a neutral body to chair a meeting between WDC and RCW to find a way forward.

Talks with Racing Club halt amid legal concerns

NEGOTIATIONS between Warwick District Council and Racing Club Warwick have reached a standstill after concerns were raised over the club’s constitution.

Relations between the club and the authority, which owns its Hampton Road site, broke down last year when the club asked for £300,000 compensation for the building of an Air Training Corps hut they claim was erected without trustees’ permission, as well as £1.2 million towards the development of a new club house.

The district council offered the club £170,000, two training pitches and a waiver on rent arrears, since paid, but the dispute shows no sign of being resolved.

When the council met last week, Cllr Alan Rhead asked council leader Cllr Michael Doody to clarify the current situation.

Cllr Rhead (Con, Budbrooke) is the council’s nominee to sit on the club’s management committee but has been told by the club’s chairman Bob Dhillon, himself a district councillor representing West Warwick, that its constitution has changed so the authority is no longer represented.

Cllr Doody (Con, Radford Semele) questioned whether the club’s constitution was legally sound, telling councillors the club’s constitution had been altered, but that he was unsure whether this was in accordance with the club’s rules.

He added he did not feel the authority could negotiate with the club while this was in doubt.

Speaking after the meeting, the club’s vice chairman Andy Cowlard said Racing Club was a private members club, and Cllr Dhillon said the constitution had been changed last year when the new committee was formed.

Warwick Racecourse’s future questioned as hotel plan is refused

CAMPAIGNERS against a hotel at Warwick Racecourse were jubilant this week after plans were refused permission this week, but the course’s owners say it could have “serious consequences” for its future.

Warwick District Council’s planning committee voted to turn down plans for the 100-bedroom hotel by six votes to four on Tuesday.

Officials had recommended allowing the hotel because of economic benefits to the town, even though the council’s own conservation architect had misgivings about its ‘landmark’ drum-shaped tower.

Citing loss of light, loss of privacy, noise and light pollution, “chronic” air pollution and “irreparable” damage to public space, resident Nigel Hamilton said the supposed economic benefit did not justify the damage.

He added: “You have been asked to approve a very large building on a very small site only to the benefit of the rich.”

At the meeting, Christine Hodgetts of the district’s Conservation Area Advisory Forum told councillors the “enormous, insensitive block” would rob the conservation area at Hampton Street and the common of its value.

She said: “Towns with commons like this have a deep affection for them, even if there is no one left who remembers them as they were.”

Warwick Arms Hotel owner Bernard Swindells warned that if the hotel opened he would no longer have a viable business.

Claiming to speak on behalf of all hotel-owners in Warwick, he said: “Please do not let it be said that the blight that would be inflicted on Warwick town centre by this hotel, the profits of which would only line the pockets of faceless shareholders, happened on your watch.”

But the racecourse’s chairman David Hill said there were no shareholders and money went back into racecourse facilities.

Mr Hill claimed the hotel would help keep visitors in the town overnight and serve breakfast only, ensuring the rest of the town would benefit, adding that a hotel would preserve the racecourse as a viable venue. He said: “What other business survives on being open only 20 days a year?”

Cllr Michael Kinson (Con, Warwick West) predicted the racecourse’s restaurant would be brought into use if the hotel opened. but officers said it was not worth creating a rule to stop this.

Committee chairman Cllr Bertie Mackay (Ind, Stoneleigh) said he had received 22 submissions in two days from businesspeople in Warwick supporting the hotel.

He said: “Obviously, the threat is there. But there is also an opportunity and that is the important element within this. The threat can be mitigated.”

But ward councillor Bob Dhillon (Con, Warwick West) said it would be “perverse” not to follow the advice of the conservation architect, adding there were alternative sites nearby.

Reacting to the decision, Racecourse chairman David Hill said on Wednesday: “Warwick Racecourse is deeply disappointed. This decision could have serious consequences for the future of the racecourse. We are awaiting confirmation of the detailed reasons for refusal before considering the options.”