What can we say to the Council?

[Burnham Lad]

Cougar told us that in his view the Council were concerned about improving things for the residents of the area, saying in his post:

 

"From my observation at the meeting the council want to close this gap between Britwell, Northborough and the rest of Slough. Apart from helping to support the long term future of Slough Town FC, they want to give the local community and the surrounding area something it really needs A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE.The council are hot on the ideas of improved shopping facilities, leisure facilities, improved park areas and improved housing.Anything that the local people will benefit from. "

 

So what could we say to them that will encourage them to support a Slough Stadium even more?

 

Firstly, it strikes me that there has been loads of publicity about problems in that area and that many of the youngsters who are blamed say there is nothing for them to do. If we can get into a position where we have some other kind of financial support for the club from perhaps the hotel and leisure facilities, we should be able to put something back. We used to have Mark Fiore as Football in the Community Officer - maybe we can get something like that going again.

 

In addition we could also be offering the hand of friendship and help to the kid's teams in the area. Burnham, who have a lot less support than us have a very active programme (visit their site at http://www.burnham-fc.co.uk/ and visit "Community") and it is great joy on my Sunday walk to the Cherry Orchard to see the hundreds of youngsters of all ages and sizes and both sexes playing football in Burnham strip. I am sure that it would be appreciated if we were able to do something like that. And it does have a benefit - I am sure that it would be much easier for those seeking business sponsors if they can see activities like this with which they would like to see their businesses associated.

 

Maybe as part of the stadium development, an external changing room facility could be built which would be usable by junior footballers on the external pitches. Perhaps Eddie and the lads could offer to let star youngsters win a training session with the team - and we don't have to wait until the Stadium is built to start to do some of these things. Maybe the Supporters Trust could start a local football support fund - it need not be enormous, just to provide some footballs for the kids teams or some kit for youngsters who cannot afford it.

 

I am sure that if we put our minds to it we can think of quite a few activities which the Council and local people would welcome and show that we are not just looking for somewhere to stick our stadium and to hell with the local residents, but want to be good neighbours and participate in the Community.

 

So maybe we should be writing saying that we support the regeneration scheme and will be doing our best as a club to support local residents, especially the youngsters as part of a cooperative effort to improve and regenerate this part of Slough.

[Guest]

You are absolutely right and this is how I felt in the meeting when Mr Deaner was explaining what his plans were.

[Guest]

Do we know whether Deaner still wants to go ahead with his plans if the site is now in Britwell rather than leafy Wexham ? Is it too down-market for him and is the site big enough for his expansive plans ? If Slough Council are so keen to see this urban redevelopment are they planning to fund the development or does it have to be private money ? What's the timescale - will we be at the end of our 3 year groundshare still wondering where we go next ? Many questions, still no concrete answers. Can we now have the meeting with Deaner ?

[Guest]

At the meeting it was mentioned that the regeneration project will not be funded by the Council.And as I mentioned before the Council are very keen for this project to go ahead but at the moment it is in its early stages and no time scale was given.