Club lose Bennett's Field

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 23, 2014

Chicken Runner61 said:
I bet the EU subsidy for leaving B field fallow is a tidy sum

Is the field technically fallow if its under tarmac tho? Does the Albion own the tarmac? And if it has to be returned to agricultural use do the club have to dig up the tarmac and dispose of it at their own expense? Would probably cost more than paying Bennett's ransom demand. Reckon the negotiations on this one have far from run their course. Yet more stupid hoops to jump through.

Green Cross Code Man · Jul 23, 2014

Marshy said:
Yes the Mill Road Park and Ride, as I say though we do leave on 90 and are in the East which helps.

Midweek games are more of a pain, but generally thats on the way in rather than on the way out...

Thanks Marshy!

Hillian1 · Jul 23, 2014

deletebeepbeepbeep said:
I don't know but there's a dense tree belt along that frontage and I would be extremely doubtful of an access being possible.

There is actually a gate there already, I've used it when walking from The Swan back to the Amex.

No idea what it's for though, it just goes straight into the trees.

Leighgull · Jul 23, 2014

Bozza said:
I imagine the club will [have to] turn it back into a field first so it will cost him a bit to turn it back into a car park.

Would Mr Bennett actually be able to access it after that? Don't the club effectively own everything around it?

I don't think Mr. Bennett thought it through if I'm honest.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 23, 2014

Leighgull said:
I don't think Mr. Bennett thought it through if I'm honest.

He'll doubtless win in the end though, because he's got something that is in itself essentially worthless, that is immensely valuable to the club.

Leighgull · Jul 23, 2014

Tom Hark said:
He'll doubtless win in the end though, because he's got something that is in itself essentially worthless, that is immensely valuable to the club.

You make an excellent point. He is on to a loser if he imagines that Barber and Bloom will give in to his ridiculous terms though.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 23, 2014

Leighgull said:
You make an excellent point. He is on to a loser if he imagines that Barber and Bloom will give in to his ridiculous terms though.

Depends how badly B&B need that bit of land tho eh? If they need it to, say, build a hotel, then Bennett could quite easily quote an insane amount and end up being haggled down to a figure still out of all proportion to what the land is worth, that will make the current price look like peanuts. Seems to me that Bennett holds all the aces. Sorry Tony.

Stat Brother · Jul 23, 2014

Tom Hark said:
He'll doubtless win in the end though, because he's got something that is in itself essentially worthless, that is immensely valuable to the club.

Leighgull said:
You make an excellent point. He is on to a loser if he imagines that Barber and Bloom will give in to his ridiculous terms though.

Tom Hark said:
Depends how badly B&B need that bit of land tho eh? If they need it to, say, build a hotel, then Bennett could quite easily quote an insane amount and end up being haggled down to a figure still out of all proportion to what the land is worth, that will make the current price look like peanuts. Seems to me that Bennett holds all the aces. Sorry Tony.

If what I've been told is even remotely correct.
In playing the long game Bennett will forfeit a considerable sum of money, in the intervening time.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 23, 2014

Stat Brother said:
In playing the long game Bennett will forfeit a considerable sum of money, in the intervening time.

Like Bennett gives a shit. Its a field in the middle of nowhere. Define 'long game'? September maybe? Face it, he's got the club by the short and curlies.

Hillian1 · Jul 23, 2014

Stat Brother said:
If what I've been told is even remotely correct.
In playing the long game Bennett will forfeit a considerable sum of money, in the intervening time.

Years ago there was a similar situation in Burgess Hill, they built a hoofing great Tesco but someone forgot to buy the bit of waste land that would have joined it to the easiest road to get to it other than going right around the town.

The guy that owned it sat still, played the waiting game and is now a Muti Millionaire.

seagullsovergrimsby · Jul 23, 2014

Tom Hark said:
Depends how badly B&B need that bit of land tho eh? If they need it to, say, build a hotel, then Bennett could quite easily quote an insane amount and end up being haggled down to a figure still out of all proportion to what the land is worth, that will make the current price look like peanuts. Seems to me that Bennett holds all the aces. Sorry Tony.

Isn't the hotel , if it is to be built , on land that is owned by BHCC and the club would have to lease the land from the council ? The car park on BF only becomes more valuable to the owners if additional spaces are needed for hotel patrons attending conferences etc. apart from the 650 spaces being needed on matchdays and special events at The Amex.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 23, 2014

seagullsovergrimsby said:
Isn't the hotel , if it is to be built , on land that is owned by BHCC and the club would have to lease the land from the council ? The car park on BF only becomes more valuable to the owners if additional spaces are needed for hotel patrons attending conferences etc. apart from the 650 spaces being needed on matchdays and special events at The Amex.

BF is ALWAYS going to be worth more to Mr Bennett if the Albion want it. Else its worth jack shit to anyone at all, including Mr Bennett.

Stat Brother · Jul 23, 2014

Tom Hark said:
Like Bennett gives a shit. Its a field in the middle of nowhere. Define 'long game'? September maybe? Face it, he's got the club by the short and curlies.

Hillian1 said:
The guy that owned it sat still, played the waiting game and is now a Muti Millionaire.

How many millions is enough?

Irrespective of a hotel or not.

The land has a considerable worth to the club, now.
Which will only increase exponentially if/when planning permission is sort/granted.

That doesn't effect the land now, and the foreseeable future.

The only thing playing games of greed now is doing is losing large sums of money.

Come the hotel the club isn't going to say 'well we should have that land cheap because we've rented it for considerably more than it's worth, for 5 years'.

For arguments sake, and simple maths:-
Land worth now £5,000
The club pays £50,000 per annum (and that figure isn't even close to what I've been told).

Planning permission in 2019
Land worth £500,000

Getting into a wee-weeing competition between now and planning won't change the cost of the land.
All it will do is cost Bennett £250,000.

Once again these numbers are not based on facts, just picked for those of us hard of thinking.

Hillian1 · Jul 23, 2014

Stat Brother said:
How many millions is enough?

Irrespective of a hotel or not.

The land has a considerable worth to the club, now.
Which will only increase exponentially if/when planning permission is sort/granted.

That doesn't effect the land now, and the foreseeable future.

The only thing playing games of greed now is doing is losing large sums of money.

Come the hotel the club isn't going to say 'well we should have that land cheap because we've rented it for considerably more than it's worth, for 5 years'.

For arguments sake, and simple maths:-
Land worth now £5,000
The club pays £50,000 per annum (and that figure isn't even close to what I've been told).

Planning permission in 2019
Land worth £500,000

Getting into a wee-weeing competition between now and planning won't change the cost of the land.
All it will do is cost Bennett £250,000.

Once again these numbers are not based on facts, just picked for those of us hard of thinking.

Cast your mind back to how much we (Archer) sold the Goldstone for, and how much it was sold for 2 years later after it was give Planning Permission.

Stat Brother · Jul 23, 2014

Hillian1 said:
Cast your mind back to how much we (Archer) sold the Goldstone for, and how much it was sold for 2 years later after it was give Planning Permission.

That's exactly what I'm saying.

The only difference between now and then is that (to my knowledge) Bennett isn't being asked to sell up, before permission is granted.
He's guaranteed a massive payday, but it would seem isn't prepared to be handsomely rewarded (for doing nothing) between now and then.
All very odd.

The Oldman · Jul 25, 2014

Argus running the story today. An interesting quote:

"However, Matthew Bennett, who has owned the field with his brother for about 20 years, said: “It is a matter of seeing if we can come to a reasonable agreement.”

Asked if negotiations had broken down, he said: “It’s early days. I was not aware it had reached that point.”

Goldstone1976 · Jul 25, 2014

The Oldman said:
Asked if negotiations had broken down, he said: “It’s early days. I was not aware it had reached that point.”

The first part is BS. How can it be "early days" when the first home game is next Thursday, and the first home league game is two weeks tomorrow? If the first part is BS, the second probably is too.

As you say though, an interesting quote.

Bozza · Jul 25, 2014

I'm not quite sure what Mr Bennett terms as "early days" but I understand this has been going on for some months.

I must have a different way of measuring these things than Mr Bennett.

Don Tmatter · Jan 26, 2015

Was yesterday a one - off for Bennetts Field or has an agreement been reached?

BobbySmith · Jan 26, 2015

Heard today from an employee that a deal has been done, but they will not open it to 1901 members until next season so that they can redesign the parking and access to make it a lot better.

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