Judicial Review – York commentary archive site

York Knights Rugby League Club is to get a £45,000 subsidy from the Council next year. The payment will allow them to continue playing their games at Bootham Crescent. The recommendation is being made to a Council meeting next week and follows reports that the rugby club has been taken over by new owners.

It appears that the builders of the new Community Stadium may be unable – because of the delays caused by a Judicial Review of the plans – to sustain the tenders that they originally submitted.

Officials warn that the cost of the project could, therefore, increase.

Although the new stadium could be open in the summer of 2018, if the Judicial Review is successful then a new planning application would be needed.

This could add between 6 months and 12 months to the timetable.

Doubts continue over the future of the Yearsley swimming pool which – in the event of the new sports centre at Monks Cross getting the go ahead – could find itself in an increasingly competitive environment.

A report is expect early next year following discussions between the Council, Nestle and the Yearsley Pool Action Group. Many residents would prefer to retain the Yearsley facility while jettisoning the expensive new pool at Monks Cross, which is inessential and adds substantially to the Community Stadium project costs.

The Council claims in the report that agreement has now been reached on the use of some facilities at the Community Stadium by the NHS, York Against Cancer and York Libraries,

The report pointedly does not provide an revised financial appraisal of the project or an updated business plan.

There will be a Judicial Review into the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for significant changes to the Community Stadium complex at Huntington.

The application for the Review was made by a cinema group who claimed that the planning process had not been fully implemented when revised plans were approved in June

The decision to hold a Review will add at least 6 months to the development timetable. If the Courts find that the Council did not follow proper processes in the lead up to the June meeting, then the planning application will have to be considered again. While there is no reason to suppose that the final decision would be any different, the complexities of the project mean that further legal challenges could not be ruled out.

Indeed the project may become mired in the Courts for years as appeals are considered.

The present stadium design links it to the other commercial and leisure uses so it is not possible to simply get on with the stadium build in isolation.

By now the Council should have got the message that it has overextended itself and a much simpler stadium needs to be substituted. There is still S106 funding available to provide a modest but adequate football/rugby ground.

Any “Plan B” might mean that some features of the overall project – such as the new swimming pool – would have to be jettisoned.

But at least tangible progress would be possible. In the meantime both the Rugby and Football clubs are suffering as a result of the off field indecision