Eastbourne Speedway

[Hackett 220]

A shame but would be no great surprise for the site to be housing in the next couple of years. Eastbourne Speedway was the family night out for a decade as the kids were taken to Arlington in a buggy / carry cot. Living in Surrey no options for Speedway locally unfortunately ; so kids have missed out apart from British Final and British SGP.  Regular speedway is not an option geographically perhaps we will look to visit Oxford or Peteborough in the school holidays but I personally can't see Eastbourne / Lakeside ever returning to speedway. 

[Halifaxtiger 5,318]

6 hours ago, Hackett said:

A shame but would be no great surprise for the site to be housing in the next couple of years. Eastbourne Speedway was the family night out for a decade as the kids were taken to Arlington in a buggy / carry cot. Living in Surrey no options for Speedway locally unfortunately ; so kids have missed out apart from British Final and British SGP.  Regular speedway is not an option geographically perhaps we will look to visit Oxford or Peteborough in the school holidays but I personally can't see Eastbourne / Lakeside ever returning to speedway. 

I think there would be a lot of objections to housing planning permission given just how rural the area round Arlington is and just how big a site would be involved (the stadium and car park constitute about half of the total land area), In addition, the stadium makes a considerable amount of money from the activities that take place there.

It will be interesting to see what Eric Dugard has to say (if he says anything). 

One thing is certain: the site (with or without planning permission for housing) would be worth a fortune. 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Halifaxtiger

[gazzac 1,015]

4 hours ago, Halifaxtiger said:

I think there would be a lot of objections to housing planning permission given just how rural the area round Arlington is and just how big a site would be involved (the stadium and car park constitute about half of the total land area), In addition, the stadium makes a considerable amount of money from the activities that take place there.

It will be interesting to see what Eric Dugard has to say (if he says anything). 

One thing is certain: the site (with or without planning permission for housing) would be worth a fortune. 

Unfortunately in the south of England objections and being rural don't normally make any difference to housing planning being accepted, I think until Sussex and Kent have no green space they'll  keep going. I live near Chichester which is so overpopulated for the available roads,  utilities, doctors etc, but it seems every bit of green space is being built on with others to be built, can't think the Eastbourne area is likely to be different?

Edited March 16, 2023 by gazzac

[Halifaxtiger 5,318]

1 hour ago, gazzac said:

Unfortunately in the south of England objections and being rural don't normally make any difference to housing planning being accepted, I think until Sussex and Kent have no green space they'll  keep going. I live near Chichester which is so overpopulated for the available roads,  utilities, doctors etc, but it seems every bit of green space is being built on with others to be built, can't think the Eastbourne area is likely to be different?

I live near Halifax and its no different (most of the borough of Calderdale is as rural as Sussex or Kent). 

What I am finding, though, is that they tend to build bits on to the edge of towns or use brownfield sites within them. The area owned by the Dugards is pretty big, completely rural and any houses in the area are seven figure prices, suggesting that the current residents would deeply object to the number of houses that could be built and may well have more clout than normal. 

I have to say that I'd find it surprising if it was sold for housing. Worth an enormous amount, no doubt, but the income from current activities at the stadium isn't peanuts. That's why I am surprised at the speedway being refused and will await any comment from Eric Dugard.

[gazzac 1,015]

12 minutes ago, Halifaxtiger said:

I live near Halifax and its no different (most of the borough of Calderdale is as rural as Sussex or Kent). 

What I am finding, though, is that they tend to build bits on to the edge of towns or use brownfield sites within them. The area owned by the Dugards is pretty big, completely rural and any houses in the area are seven figure prices, suggesting that the current residents would deeply object to the number of houses that could be built and may well have more clout than normal. 

I have to say that I'd find it surprising if it was sold for housing. Worth an enormous amount, no doubt, but the income from current activities at the stadium isn't peanuts. That's why I am surprised at the speedway being refused and will await any comment from Eric Dugard.

I hope you're right and whatever it's not sold for housing, maybe it just seems like it near me, but obvious brownfield sites never seem to be first choice. Anyway another speedway venue gone by the look of it, along with yours and so many others.

[old bob at herne bay 828]

What surprises me is that it has taken so long for the Dugard family to make this decision to drop speedway once and for all at Arlington.

If we are to believe  the current bunch of “promoters”, none make an operating profit … they just throw their money in as some sort of hobby, and then whinge at the lack of support from fans. 
Why would the Dugard family ( who are very successful businessmen) want to be involved in such a poor and high risk investment as renting out their stadium for speedway ? 

Never blessed with good crowds in recent years…. I would guess that the late Bob Dugard personally kept the speedway going with his £££.. That era is now over. Reading the SS this week Len Silver reckons 250k will be needed to revive Sittingbourne Central Park … a figure which must apply to restarting Eastbourne ( and any other hopeful venues) so DREAM ON folks ……..

 

 

[Skidder1 7,637]

54 minutes ago, old bob at herne bay said:

What surprises me is that it has taken so long for the Dugard family to make this decision to drop speedway once and for all at Arlington.

If we are to believe  the current bunch of “promoters”, none make an operating profit … they just throw their money in as some sort of hobby, and then whinge at the lack of support from fans. 
Why would the Dugard family ( who are very successful businessmen) want to be involved in such a poor and high risk investment as renting out their stadium for speedway ? 

Never blessed with good crowds in recent years…. I would guess that the late Bob Dugard personally kept the speedway going with his £££.. That era is now over. Reading the SS this week Len Silver reckons 250k will be needed to revive Sittingbourne Central Park … a figure which must apply to restarting Eastbourne ( and any other hopeful venues) so DREAM ON folks ……..

 

 

....and the award to today's most positive post goes to......?!

[gazzac 1,015]

57 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

....and the award to today's most positive post goes to......?!

Wouldn't have expected anything else really.....

[gazzac 1,015]

1 hour ago, old bob at herne bay said:

 

Why would the Dugard family ( who are very successful businessmen) want to be involved in such a poor and high risk investment as renting out their stadium for speedway ? 

 

 

 

Any risk would be with the promotion not the Dugards, and with the people involved with trying to bring it back, the Jordon scenario wouldn't have happened again, so probably another reason, anyway thanks for your usual input. 

[old bob at herne bay 828]

Don’t know how anyone could put a positive spin on “ the stadium is no longer available for speedway.” ? 
 

Unless Elon Musk takes an interest in buying the entire site from Eric for e cars and likes speedway enough to retain the stadium it ain’t gonna happen.

[FromBendThree 145]

Anyone seen a statement from stadium owners as to why speedway is persona non grata? Read elsewhere that stocks/bangers will continue. Guess the logical thing now is to tarmac speedway track. So where in Sussex for speedway? Eastbourne - no chance. East Grinstead, Crawley, Gatwick would be perfect with a Sussex, Surrey, Kent, south London and south Essex would be perfect, 

[25yearfan 476]

Strange one!

While Arlington Stadium remains in its current guise why wouldn't the Stadium owners want speedway staged there because they would earn a tidy sum and all the financial risk would be with the speedway promotion. Afterall what else is the shale track inside the stock car going to be used for and apart from stock cars what else takes place there?

Understandable the Dugard family don't want to get involved in running the speedway themselves because running the Eagles in League racing over the years cost  Bob Dugard a lot of money and rarely made money.

Does the junior track which produced a lot of riders in past still exist? 

[FromBendThree 145]

15 minutes ago, 25yearfan said:

 

Does the junior track which produced a lot of riders in past still exist? 

No. Been gone a few years now.

[M.D 463]

25 minutes ago, FromBendThree said:

No. Been gone a few years now.

What a fantastic facility that was for the club, produced a lot of England internationals and a lot of other riders who had a career in the sport..

[Skidder1 7,637]

53 minutes ago, 25yearfan said:

Strange one!

While Arlington Stadium remains in its current guise why wouldn't the Stadium owners want speedway staged there because they would earn a tidy sum and all the financial risk would be with the speedway promotion. Afterall what else is the shale track inside the stock car going to be used for and apart from stock cars what else takes place there?

Understandable the Dugard family don't want to get involved in running the speedway themselves because running the Eagles in League racing over the years cost  Bob Dugard a lot of money and rarely made money.

Does the junior track which produced a lot of riders in past still exist? 

So why/how would any other promotion make enough money to at least break even and also pay the stadium rental fee!!