The best £500 Ken ever spent.

[Donkey Kong]

DK, did I say I didn't agree with the plan? 

Perseus, do you agree with the plan?

[Ryehill]

  I would like to make a couple of points just to clarify the situation. As far as I can find out -
         The district valuation officer has valued the Victoria Park at £640K.
         I.O.R. received £1.8 million in grants to up-grade the facilities.
         A clause in the lease makes the football club responsible for all repairs and maintenance.
     I would also like to add that I.O.R. have done a wonderful job in keeping league football in Hartlepool but in the field of public relations they are not so good. They have had a number of disputes which they have not handled very well. I hope the ground purchase does not become an acrimonious dispute.
 

[Donkey Kong]

  I would like to make a couple of points just to clarify the situation. As far as I can find out -
         The district valuation officer has valued the Victoria Park at £640K.
         I.O.R. received £1.8 million in grants to up-grade the facilities.
         A clause in the lease makes the football club responsible for all repairs and maintenance.
     I would also like to add that I.O.R. have done a wonderful job in keeping league football in Hartlepool but in the field of public relations they are not so good. They have had a number of disputes which they have not handled very well. I hope the ground purchase does not become an acrimonious dispute.

Ryehill, do you agree with the plan?

[Donkey Kong]

Overall, in principle yes, if it's done right. However, there are aspects of it I don't think are correct. Namely, the 'giveaway/sale/discount' call it what you will. I'd prefer to see it on a long term lease of say 99 years with an option to extend. I'd also prefer it if specfics were 100% ironed out and agreed upon BEFORE any handover. I don't think this will happen though, I think it'll all be pie in the sky to make it sound like the worlds greatest idea, then a lot of the proposed ideas ultimately wont happen.

Ok, so I'll ask again, Perseus, do you agree with the plan?

Sorry about asking again and all that but you start off by saying "yes" and then go on to intimate "no".  Are you indecisive or waffling?

[Donkey Kong]

D.K. it's not as simple as you make out.

I love the plan if Pools pay a fair price for the ground and land they want.

D.K. or Ryehill where did the £1.8m grant money come from and over how many years.

TORY, I like to try and keep things simple as it gets to the point quicker than most of the people on here who just don't like answering questions and prefer to waffle around points rather than address them.

I agree with your point with regards the fair price, I'm led to believe that the "price" is a six figure sum but is less than the £600k quoted elsewhere.

I can't really help with regards any grant money as I'm not a Pools fan and don't have anything to do with them so don't really know.  If I was guessing I would say that it's some form of Football League grant as I do know that these used to exist for clubs who had to upgrade their grounds after the Hillsbrough and Bradford Fire disasters and involved a grant of up to about a maximum of 30-40% of the overall cost of the improvements.

[Donkey Kong]

DK, What exactly is it about my answer that you don't understand?

My answer was basically "Yes, but..."

That's called expressing an opinion that i've actually thought about, rather than just saying 'yes'. I think there is still some serious negotiation to be done first, that's all.

Ok, let's try again and I'll reword the question for you to make it a bit easier for you to deal with.

Perseus, do you agree with the current plans as proposed?

A simple "yes" or "no" answer really will suffice.

[Donkey Kong]

I agree with your point with regards the fair price, I'm led to believe that the "price" is a six figure sum but is less than the £600k quoted elsewhere.

Tell me what figure you are led to believe?

£100,000.00

[Donkey Kong]

Can you clarify the specifics of the proposal as you see them? Because as far as I could see from The Mail we'll all be given copious amounts of free Ben and Jerrys ice cream, £50 each in our sky rockets and a date with Angelia Jolie if the deal goes through. Or some such promises...

So your whole argument / discussion on here has been based on what has been in The Mail?

Really?

That's priceless.

There is actually an official report kicking about on the HBC website which gives much more detail than the sewage that is printed in The Mail.

[Donkey Kong]

D.K.

100k for what..the ground and land?, the ground?, the land?

An area of land which is shown on the plans in the HBC report (referred to previously) which is pretty much the land that the ground sits on plus a little bit (not a heck of a lot) around the edge.

[Donkey Kong]

Try this link to see if it brings up the report which I've mentioned;

http://www.hartlepool.gov.uk/egov_downloads/19.03.12_-_Cabinet_Agenda.pdf

[Donkey Kong]

no i've read the report and the stuff in the mail. My point about specifics was;

• Expansion and Development of the football ground and its
offering to the Community
• business and community facilities/accommodation
• Further sports, leisure and recreational facilities
• Educational facilities
• Student accommodation
• Other residential accommodation

That's not specific, they don't say which will be done with any degree of certainty as far as I can make out. That's a list of things they may or may not do once given the land, they MAY not do any of them.

Once who is given the land?

Have you read the flipping report properly as you seem to be saying that HUFC will / may / may not provide or build your bullet points 2-6 above when these elements of the plan have absolutely nothing to do with the football club?!

[Donkey Kong]

I was writting my post as you posted the link ..thanks for that..but I can't open it.

Will you copy and paste it if it isn't a headache to do.

I can't, sorry.  It's a great long council report of which this plan is only part, and it includes all sorts of different things which I don't know how to copy onto here.  To be honest, if you only read the general text you wouldn't get the whole picture, you really need to read it in its entirety in order to get the gist properly (and not half baked like some others on here seem to have done).

Maybe somebody else knows how to do it for you?

[Donkey Kong]

It's like them saying look we will build all of this, hotels, accomadation, sports facilities etc but really it's just a way of the mayor giving away the football club.

Smoke and mirrors and all that.

If the oil company want the ground and land around it (even if it's a small amount of land) let them pay a fair price for it and then the money can be used for other things in the town, so we all had some value for the deal going through rather than just I.O.R.

Read the report (if you can access it or somebody can copy it for you) and then see what you think as it's quite interesting.

I take your points about how things MIGHT NOT HAPPEN, however it strikes me as a choice of would you rather take the chance that it ALL MIGHT HAPPEN if the plan is approved or NONE OF IT WILL DEFINITELY HAPPEN if the plan is rejected by the council?

In my opinion this town is all too often held back because of MIGHT NOT which stops things that MIGHT HAPPEN.  Maybe this is an opportunity to go against that grain and actually try and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN by approving the plans and at least allowing the opportunity for that area to be regenerated rather than just backheeling it and leaving that area to rot as is currently occuring.

[Donkey Kong]

I.O.R. are in charge of their own destiny with this project but want it for nothing or next to nothing,.
The chq's in the post is not good enough when giving away the town assets.
If it was your land would you give it away? I wouldn't, I would say "give me proper money and it's yours" do what you like or can get the permission on after that point.

I think many agree with me too rightly or wrongly.

The mayor in his wisdom is trying to buy votes incase he gets another chance in my view.

Read the report (if you can access it or somebody can copy it for you) and then see what you think as it's quite interesting.

[Donkey Kong]

No, that looks like an earlier one.