Cheap vote-catching innuendo

5:29pm Wednesday 29th November 2000

Open letter to Councillors Wayne Casey and Jeremy Davies. Re: Copthall Stadium planning application

I have only just seen your circular to Mill Hill residents relating the recent planning application submitted to rebuild the existing dilapidated stand at Copthall Stadium, and am frankly dismayed at the cheap vote catching innuendo specifically designed to stir up concern in respect of a project about which you clearly know little.

Additionally, as chief executive of Barnet Sports Development Ltd, and as a resident myself of Mill Hill, I take strong personal exception to your implication that the proposal is part of some devious plot to reinstate the original stadium application.

Barnet Sports Development Ltd is a non-profit company, limited by guarantee, the sole purpose of which is to further the development of all sport (not just football) within the borough of Barnet.

Although admittedly connected to Barnet Football Club, the club themselves have stated publicly on numerous occasions that they have no intention of applying again to relocate to Copthall.

The current Copthall application is a joint proposal by Barnet Sports Development and Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers to provide a modern athletic facility with proper indoor and outdoor training areas, together with a sporting academy to enable the coaching of many sports (including football) and associated leisure activities.

Surely this is what Copthall is all about, and I cannot understand why you are so much against what the two organisations are trying to achieve for the residents of this borough.

If you are minded to discuss these proposals for the good of the residents and not for the purpose of scoring political points, then all of us concerned with this proposal would be delighted to meet with you. However, that might be expecting too much.

Graham R Slyper, chief executive

Barnet Sports Development Ltd

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