Ashford Town (Mx) Threatened With Removal From Ground Due To Heathrow Expansion

[GarySTFC]

Currently doing the rounds on twitter that due to a proposed expansion of Heathrow, Ashford will be forced to leave their Robert Parker Stadium ground.

 

Full statement from http://www.ashfordtownmiddlesexfc.com/

 

Ashford Town (Middlesex) Football Club are aware that a group of Conservative MPs, including our own Member of Parliament, Dr Kwasi Kwarteng, have today published a paper which outlines a number of proposals for economic growth. We are dismayed to learn that one of these proposals is “a fourth runway to the south would be situated A30 (the Staines Road) and incorporate Ashford Football Club” (sic).

This came to our attention after the Sunday Telegraph newspaper contacted the club ahead of publishing this article over the weekend. Having read the newspaper’s report, we wrote to Dr Kwarteng to express our concerns. A copy of the letter is available to download.

The group of MPs, who call themselves the “Free Enterprise Group”, then published the full paper on their website today. Ashford supporters and local residents will be particularly interested in page eight. In this section, the authors – which include Dr Kwarteng – advocate both the resurrection of the shelved third runway at Sipson and the destruction of Stanwell and Bedfont to make room for a fourth runway.

Such a proposal would be potentially catastrophic for the 12,000 people who live in Stanwell and for the provision of sport and recreation in Spelthorne.

Although our club is called “Ashford Town (Middlesex) Football Club”, our home ground is in Stanwell and has been since 1986. We have no wish to leave the area, nor do we believe that there is sufficient undeveloped land within Spelthorne to relocate us to a facility that is at least the equal of the facilities at our disposal. Nor do the authors of the report make any reference to Ashford Sports Club, whose own facilities in Short Lane would surely also have to make way if this proposal became reality.

We would respectfully point out that the site of the Robert Parker Stadium is classed as “Metropolitan Green Belt” and therefore enjoys certain protections in law. We would also point out that we have a long lease on the site which provides us, as the sitting tenant, with a certain degree of protection.

We are surprised that the Member of Parliament for Spelthorne has put his name to a report that proposes demolishing a large part of his constituency. We acknowledge the importance of Heathrow Airport to the local and national economy, but do not subscribe to the view that this should be an overriding concern, to the exclusion and ultimate destruction of the local community. This proposal would not just obliterate Stanwell and Bedfont, but also blight Ashford and Feltham for many years. We do not believe that is a price worth paying.

Therefore, this football club will do everything within its power to protect not just its own best interests, but those of the people of Stanwell. We would urge our supporters to read the documentation and join with us in fighting this ill-conceived proposal. Ashford Town (Middlesex) Football Club are aware that a group of Conservative MPs, including our own Member of Parliament, Dr Kwasi Kwarteng, have today published a paper which outlines a number of proposals for economic growth. We are dismayed to learn that one of these proposals is “a fourth runway to the south would be situated A30 (the Staines Road) and incorporate Ashford Football Club” (sic).

This came to our attention after the Sunday Telegraph newspaper contacted the club ahead of publishing this article over the weekend. Having read the newspaper’s report, we wrote to Dr Kwarteng to express our concerns. A copy of the letter is available to download.

The group of MPs, who call themselves the “Free Enterprise Group”, then published the full paper on their website today. Ashford supporters and local residents will be particularly interested in page eight. In this section, the authors – which include Dr Kwarteng – advocate both the resurrection of the shelved third runway at Sipson and the destruction of Stanwell and Bedfont to make room for a fourth runway.

Such a proposal would be potentially catastrophic for the 12,000 people who live in Stanwell and for the provision of sport and recreation in Spelthorne.

Although our club is called “Ashford Town (Middlesex) Football Club”, our home ground is in Stanwell and has been since 1986. We have no wish to leave the area, nor do we believe that there is sufficient undeveloped land within Spelthorne to relocate us to a facility that is at least the equal of the facilities at our disposal. Nor do the authors of the report make any reference to Ashford Sports Club, whose own facilities in Short Lane would surely also have to make way if this proposal became reality.

We would respectfully point out that the site of the Robert Parker Stadium is classed as “Metropolitan Green Belt” and therefore enjoys certain protections in law. We would also point out that we have a long lease on the site which provides us, as the sitting tenant, with a certain degree of protection.

We are surprised that the Member of Parliament for Spelthorne has put his name to a report that proposes demolishing a large part of his constituency. We acknowledge the importance of Heathrow Airport to the local and national economy, but do not subscribe to the view that this should be an overriding concern, to the exclusion and ultimate destruction of the local community. This proposal would not just obliterate Stanwell and Bedfont, but also blight Ashford and Feltham for many years. We do not believe that is a price worth paying.

Therefore, this football club will do everything within its power to protect not just its own best interests, but those of the people of Stanwell. We would urge our supporters to read the documentation and join with us in fighting this ill-conceived proposal.

 

Good luck to them in their fight should these proposals ever get any momentum.