Maidenhead United express disappointment over lease decision call-in

Maidenhead United has expressed its disappointment over a call-in of a Royal Borough council officer’s decision to proceed with leasing the site at Braywick Park to the club.

The call-in by Cllr Helen Taylor (tBfI, Oldfield),Cllr Geoff Hill (tBfI, Oldfield), and Jon Davey (Ind, Clewer & Dedworth West) was discussed at a Place Overview and Scrutiny meeting on Thursday, April 20, where it was decided that the decision would be referred back to the decision maker for re-consideration.

In a statement, CEO Jon Adams said: “We were disappointed that the recent officer decision relating to our agreement to lease part of Braywick Park was called in for review by the council’s overview and scrutiny panel.

“We do however recognise the value and importance of accountability within local government and continue to work collaboratively with the council as the project moves forward.”

Mr Adams added that the specifics of the legal agreement were scrutinised on two separate occasions in 2020, by the council’s overview and scrutiny panel, with ‘many of the same members participating’.

He explained that some of the detail in this agreement came about to make sure some of the ‘key issues raised by the panel last week were addressed’, including that:

• The lease for Braywick ‘will be held independently of the operational arms of the football club for the benefit of football and community sport’, ensuring that facilities are ‘well maintained’ and available for the benefit of the community and ‘cannot be sold on for commercial profit’.
• The capital value the club will be paying for the lease would be determined by an ‘independent valuation commissioned by the council’
• The football club is required to make the new facilities ‘available for the benefit of existing users of the site’, including making both proposed 3G pitches available for Maidenhead RFC to use on Sunday mornings and the ‘athletics facilities available for Maidenhead Athletic Club’.

Mr Adams added that the football club’s objective remains to ‘work collaboratively with stakeholders and consult widely’ on its proposals.

He explained that late last year the club held a series of ‘well publicised public consultation events’ that were attended by residents, members of the council and key stakeholders, including Maidenhead RFC and Maidenhead Athletic Club.

Mr Adams added: “We have always been clear that the need for the new stadium is driven by several factors including the simple fact that our existing York Road ground requires significant capital investment, which the club does not have the resources to fund, and that the facilities no longer meet the needs of our growing football and community programmes.

“Our ambition remains to deliver a community stadium the town can be proud of, with facilities that enable us to extend the football opportunities available to all; do more to bring local people together and to champion wellbeing within our community, whilst supporting the needs of other sports clubs.

“Extensive technical development work has been undertaken over recent months as we finalise our proposals for the submission of our planning application, which we now expect to be submitted in the summer.”

Visit www.braywicksportshub.co.uk for more information.