Forum for residents of St Georges Park and Long Leys Road Lincoln

[Jeff]

Suggest that residents take a look at today's Lincolnshire Echo of what happened at the Lincoln Commons Advisory Panel yesterday evening.

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/new ... ticle.html

See also letter which was published today too.


21st century racecourse will exploit common land

THE history of Lincoln's West Common and the Carholme Racecourse has been written about in articles and in the letters page of the Echo and elsewhere.

For a summary of its history and present ecology, there is a notice board provided by the city council at the West Parade gate of the Common.

If the City of Lincoln Council allows the Lincolnshire Racecourse Regeneration Company (LLRC) a leasing right to the West Common, the information on their notice board will no doubt be amended, to reflect the changed nature of the future conditions governing access and the natural state of the Common.

It would be an extremely foolish company that invested £12 million in a venture on leased land without the right to determine how that land was controlled and treated.

Sixteen days of racing from March to October with an expected 5,000 entry-paying punters may require a considerable security force to keep out the non-paying spectators, dog walkers, horse owners and horses and the sporting fraternity who use the Common and very high fences to ensure this.

It is mooted a hotel and a conference centre will be built, making the Common a year-round venue for not only racing, but with an events programme possibly in competition with the Lincolnshire Showground.

A modern racecourse needs modern facilities.

It requires car parking, hotel accommodation, restaurants, fast food concessions, bars, lavatories, medical and veterinary centres, comprehensive stabling and so on.

The Common itself will have to tamed.

Paths and roads paved for fast emergency services and the racecourse widened. The original Carholme racecourse, which existed from the 18th to the 20th century, had less effect on the West Common's evolving ecology than the past 30 years of the Carholme Golf Club on the south side of the Common.

To maintain and expand its business the LLRC would have to manage, change and maintain its leased ground to suit its specific needs as the Carholme Golf Club has done.

Should this lease be granted, the enterprise will have to be policed, litter cleared, vandal protected and the ground built upon.

Any advantage to the city and its population will be outweighed by the LRRC exploiting the land for the companies investment return and profit.

Unlike the Christmas Market, cycle and foot races and other occasional gatherings and festivals, the likely A57 disruption, given the LRRCs projected calendar will be both regular and frustrating.

Whatever happens, we would still pay an increasing amount of council tax, part of which will be for the maintenance of the Lincoln Commons.

The problem is not in my back yard, but who has the right to stop you using and enjoying it.

DON SMITH Hewson Road, Lincoln.

[Neville]

the conservative executive at the city of lincoln council are not sure what to do about granting the 12 month heads of terms lease to the lincoln racecourse regeneration company. off the record, they may vote in allowing the lease. the figure in buying the lease could be in the region of £250k. the problem is if granted and the lrrc wish to terminate the lease during the course of the 12 month agreement, they may say that the environment and traffic assessments are expensive to implement. they will want to sell the lease back to the city council. if city council is given first option to buy and cannot afford say an offer of £200k, the lrrc can sell the lease to another company. i don't think the executive know about this, but if doing so, can play the card of ignorance.

see updated news about the recent commons advisory panel meeting http://thelincolnite.co.uk/xwudi


this was published in the guardian newspaper today. even the national press are taking an interest in what karl mccartney is upto.


Diary - A horse, a horse, said MP Karl. For my constituency, a horse
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Hugh Muir The Guardian, Tuesday 27 July 2010 Article history

• A big test for David Cameron's "big society" in Lincoln, where there is a growing and spirited public campaign to head off the capture of popular common land for use as a new racecourse. The brains behind the wheeze – Lincoln Racecourse Regeneration Company (LRRC) and the Lincoln Racecourse Trust – say it will all be fab and will bring investment of more than £12m over the next five to seven years. But locals, who have more than 500 signatures and the backing of such figures as botanist David Bellamy, say they quite like their communal ground and don't like the noise and disruption the proposal would bring. A grassroots godsend, you'd think, for the local Tory MP, new boy Karl McCartney – especially as many local Tories oppose the proposed development. But aside from the time he spends campaigning for his name to be correctly spelt by the House of Commons authorities – the first "c" must float above the line, don't you know – McCartney is also a director of the Lincoln Racecourse Company and the scheme's most high-profile backer. So ultimately, the people may get what they want in a Cameroonian big society sort of way. But not necessarily from him.

[john shipton]

Just to let residents know that BBC Radio Lincolnshire counted about 120 people in the audience. The panel members presented the case of refusal very well. For they had done their homework. This has been lacking from both LRRC and the MP for LIncoln. For them to come up with nothing concrete after beginning the project over three years ago, is suspect. This is what Lincoln people are saying.There were residents from the Long Leys Road area who attended the Lincoln Commons Advisory Panel meeting. Thanks for speaking to panel members.