Viewpoint: Rugby club's opposition to Maidenhead United stadium move

Email Viewpoint letters tojamesp@baylismedia.co.ukor write to Viewpoint, Newspaper House, 48 Bell Street, Maidenhead, SL6 1HX.

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Blow the whistle on commercialising park

I was flabbergasted at the recent piece in The Advertiser regarding the Magpies fans’ meeting.

I feel that the headline should have read – ‘Commercialisation of Braywick Park must happen for Magpies to survive’.

How arrogant and inconsiderate is it for the coach of a wealthy football club to claim that they can only survive at the expense of a beautiful and unique community sports and recreation park.

Maidenhead United have created their own problem by willingly taking the perilous route of spending their money on players in a level of football that they cannot sustain financially without external funding.

Their announcement at the fan meeting that they need to commercialise Braywick Park to survive is unbelievable.

They could quite easily, like most sports clubs, have invested in their facilities over the last decades to provide a quality and sustainable environment for the players and fans to enjoy, at a level of football that does not leave them prone to financial ruin because their financial backer wants to pull away.

In my discussions with Jon (Adams) and Peter (Griffin), I have repeatedly agreed that they need better facilities, but not at the expense of Braywick Park and Maidenhead Rugby Club.

These discussions have also repeatedly requested how a circa £25m, 5,200-capacity stadium can be justified for a football club with an average attendance of circa 1,400 and, more importantly, how they intend to commercialise Braywick Park to meet their financial requirements.

No details have been forthcoming.

以前的信件表明,stadium and commercial complex that they want to build on Braywick offers no additional facilities or sport offering that is not already at Braywick.

So what commercial facilities do they plan to build on Braywick? Rentable office facilities was what Jon and Peter have indicated to me.

They have also been asked why they have not considered alternative sites which are available.

Maybe the ridiculously low cost of purchasing nine acres of beautiful, community, greenbelt land helped them decide.

At least we can be thankful that the council has decided to review this decision, revalue the land and take out of the Borough Local Plan the pre-presumption that Maidenhead FC can move there subject to planning approval.

They have also declared that the football club must present a pre-planning proposal to all interested parties prior to official submission to the borough planning panel.

With the lack of detail presented to affected parties over the last years, this presentation will be fascinating and I am looking forward to see how they justify such a massive and unnecessary commercial facility in beautiful Braywick Park.

STEPHEN BOUGH

Chairman, Maidenhead RFC

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Ward and parish – thanks for the support

Just a belated thank you for all those residents in the Bray Ward who voted for me on May 4 at the Royal Borough elections.

Unfortunately, on May 19 I had a car crash and sustained a fracture to the knee.

I am undergoing treatment at a London hospital and intend to be transferred by a rehabilitation centre in Berkshire soonest.

Meanwhile I’m keeping in touch with both RBWM and the parish council as best I can. Once again, many thanks for all those residents in Bray who supported me.

Cllr LEO WALTERS

Conservative, Bray

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No small mercies for many mercenaries

The extraordinary events in Russia last weekend have highlighted once again the risks inherent in hiring mercenaries and, on the reverse side of the coin, being one.

The life of a condottiere General has, historically, been one of military adventure, notoriety, debauchery, and pillage. It has also been short. Their employers never quite get what they pay for.

If the hireling performs that which they could not for themselves, they become the servant, not the master.

If not, then whatever was the ill remains and the Treasury is empty.

Inevitable resentment is baked into the deal.

Perhaps the most famous of this special breed of soldier were Belisarius and Von Wallenstein.

They served Justinian the Great and Emperor Ferdinand II respectively.

The former reconquered Africa and most of Italy with a tiny polyglot army of Romans, Greeks, Heruls and Huns.

His reward was to be replaced by a eunuch, stripped of his rank and imprisoned, though he was later pardoned.

Von Wallenstein’s much larger army had units drawn from all the states of central Europe and more than a smattering of English, Irish and Scots.

His successes and the vastness of his horde evoked such jealousy and fear that his employer had him murdered.

I suspect that Vladimir Putin is more of a Ferdinand than a Justinian.

JOHN BALDWIN

Boyn Hill

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Young and old, looking back and forward

As befits those of us born many decades ago, Brexit supporters are still dreaming, fixated on a rose-tinted vision of the past.

More than seven years have passed since the con artists of Leave.EU and Vote Leave delivered their manifestos of mendacity.

The five big lies of Brexit were:

1) the NHS would benefit from a bonus of £350,000,000 per week. LIE.

2) frictionless trade deals with Europe and a plethora of other countries. LIE.

3) a decrease in net immigration. LIE.

4) ending the supremacy of EU law. LIE.

5) a stronger union of the four countries comprising the UK. LIE.

It is pointless highlighting the UK’s entry to a trading organisation which is expected to deliver an increase in international trade of about £1billion in 10 years, because £1billion doesn’t begin to replace lost trade with the EU.

Every week, valiant attempts are made to sift through the Patrick Minford manual of pretend economics to justify the decline in the UK’s performance post Brexit; most weeks, mention is made of the vote which many of the 37 per cent of the electorate who supported it now regret deeply.

There again, if the most rampant liar who ever disgraced the office of Prime Minister is a personal hero, what can be expected but the bilge of which Thames Water would be proud.

Every five years, it’s mandatory to hold a general election in the UK.

Every five years (or fewer) the vote changes.

There is now an overwhelming majority in favour of supporting the UK by rejoining the EU, and that majority will only increase as the young and middle age who are alert to the great Brexit con start to outnumber the declining elderly who were the most numerous Brexit supporters.

The winds of change are blowing; they'll soon be gale force.

JAMES AIDAN

Sutton Road

Cookham