The Trust Board have written to WNC requesting an update on the land sale etc.
Councillor Jonathan Nunn
Leader of West Northamptonshire Council One Angel Square
Northampton
NN1 1ED
By email
Dear Councillor Nunn and fellow West Northamptonshire councillors,
24 November 2023
As agreed at our last board meeting on 9 November, we are writing to you on the eighth anniversary of the acquisition of the Northampton Town Football Club by David Bower and Kelvin Thomas, through the vehicle of the club’s holding company Northampton Town Ventures Ltd.
While the Supporters Trust will always be grateful to the former Northampton Borough Council for waiving the debt which threatened the club’s existence in 2015, eight years later the unfinished East Stand remains an embarrassing and significant scar on the Northampton landscape.
It stands testament to the failure of the predecessor authority to make the Memorandum of Understanding between club and council legally binding and that situation has persisted to this day.
At the time of writing it is now 20 weeks since the High Court judgment was delivered in favour of the council - but nothing has been heard from the council about any progress towards completion of the land sale.
Sixfields is yet to appear on any committee agendas and, with just one cycle of meetings remaining in December, it seems unlikely that the sale will come before the council this year.
We find this strange, the more so when in the period February to March 2022 the council was seemingly in a hurry to move its preference for the bid of County Developments (Northampton) Ltd, which includes the area behind the East Stand registered as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).
All the land in question stands empty, the titles to the land are registered at HM Land Registry and the surrender of the leases should be a straightforward matter.
Therefore, the continuing delay raises questions about the intentions of the parties and what is preventing completion from taking place.
Are the commercial terms outlined in the Heads of Terms attached to the WNC Cabinet’s papers for 8 March 2022 still not agreed?
We believe it is reasonable
on behalf of our members 🤣 to request that the council provides a full and meaningful update on the current position.
In connection with this request, we also have a number of related questions to which your detailed response would be appreciated.
The full list of questions is as follows:-
When do you expect a finalised contract to go to council or the cabinet?
Is the area of land behind the East Stand, designated as part of the ACV, to be built on as part of a private development?
In the indicative plans submitted to the council by consultants to CDNL a warehouse of 137,750 square feet is proposed (height unspecified) for part of that site, the largest of nine warehouses proposed for the entire site with no other type of development submitted. The next largest warehouse will occupy 73,125 square feet.
In the WNC Cabinet papers for 8 March 2022 it states that the council will have an option to buy back the Running Track Lease land for £1 if the East Stand is not completed with five years. How will this be effective if within that period of time a warehouse of 137,750 square feet is built on a large part of the same land? Does the creation of an option effectively prevent any development taking place on that land for as long as the option exists?
The NTFC chairman’s most recent interview on BBC Northampton was deeply concerning – the disclosure that the debt to the owners has now increased to £8 million must bring into question whether, after the sale and possible development of the CDNL land, there will be any proceeds left to fund the completion of the East Stand. And a real risk of the buyback having to be invoked.
On 3 November 2021, Council Leader Jonathan Nunn, in a WNC press release, announced an agreement in principle to sell the land at Sixfields to CDNL for £890,000. He said: “A crucial prerequisite of that (allowing CDNL to buy the land) has always been that the East Stand needs to be completed first.”
In the same release he stated: “We are minded to agree a deal in principle, whereby CDNL will be able to buy the land for £890,000, but only when work on the stand is finished.”
In terms of the clear commitment made by Cllr Nunn on that date and on previous occasions, including a speech he made to an open forum of the Trust on 24 July 2019, how does the council explain the abandonment of this condition?
Is it the case that the contractual obligation to complete the East Stand will be an obligation of NTFC and not CDNL or its owners in a personal capacity? And if the latter, how does the council plan to enforce that obligation?
We have no reason or information to believe that there have been any material changes to the deal approved by the WNC Cabinet on 8 March 2022. Does the council therefore agree that – notwithstanding today’s announcement by NTFC of an agreement with a contractor to complete the stand - the structure of the deal allows for the possibility that the current owners of NTFC may sell CDNL and NTFC separately, or uncouple CDNL from ownership by NTFC, so allowing the owners to depart without finishing the stand?
If the land deal is not completed before 11 April 2024 is it the intention of the council to invoke its termination rights under the lease of the main site and place that area of land on the open market?
While no discernible progress has been made since 2015 as regards Sixfields, the uncompleted East Stand and the completion of the sale of the adjoining circa 22 acres of land, football clubs elsewhere are making significant improvements to their stadiums and infrastructure, not least at Exeter and Plymouth where similar land issues exist.
Closer to Northampton, Peterborough and Cambridge have ambitious plans for ground improvements and Luton and Oxford are working towards the construction of new stadia.
The stagnation we continue to experience with the Sixfields site, a key gateway to the town, is a major disappointment and much to the detriment of the club, its brand and the town as a whole.
The population of Northampton is fast approaching 250,000 and with its large catchment area it possesses huge but unfulfilled potential for hosting a much larger football club. Football remains the pre-eminent national sport. Where does this land deal sit in the strategic vision for West Northamptonshire and the council’s aim to establish this an area of sporting excellence?
Is the council satisfied that a deal sought in the name of the football club will guarantee the generation of the required level of investment benefit to grow the club, strengthen its asset base, create more jobs, increase local spend and so boost Northampton’s visitor economy?
The Supporters Trust wants only what is best for the football club, the town and the surrounding area.
That includes a stadium of which the people of Northampton can be proud. In our view the adjoining land, which remains an asset of the football club for the time being, should only be sold and developed for the long-term benefit of the football club (and not principally the owners of its holding company, Northampton Town Ventures Ltd), the residents and council taxpayers.
Any other outcome we would consider to be unacceptable and would be a serious and fundamental failure by the council to make good and positive use of a community asset.
As a matter of courtesy we wish to advise you that we will be releasing this letter to our membership.
Yours faithfully
The Board of Directors NTFC Supporters Limited