Halifaxtiger

That's right. The other side also have to pay the costs of two others (Terry Waters was one) so they are probably up to £250. I bet the costs the BSPA & C& P have had are substantial and all for bugger all.

Dead right I am not certain what anyone has gained from this. Dave Coventry and the Moto X chap have huge legal bills and the possibility of their facilities closing for good and the complainant also has a huge legal bill, a gutted house and the possibility of long term harrassment. According to the newspaper report, Dave Coventry & the Moto X chap have to meet 60% of the complainant's costs, while the complainant has to meet costs incurred by those who have had their cases dismissed. The bill will probably be around £1m all told, with the complainant liable for around £250k nd Dave Coventry and the Moto X chap liable for the rest between them. Truly astonishing.

The court summary indicates that the injunctions were to be decided after consultation with counsel. The newspaper report seems to suggest that they have been issued but the details aren't clear. The costs are mind boggling, and one has to wonder whether it was all worth it -even the couple who took the action are looking at £250k.

They usually have both in the same meetings.

There are a mass of figures on the court summary but: 'On 18 August 2007 he measured the noise of speedway activities at the Stadium at 64 dB. On 15 September 2007 he measured the noise of banger racing at the Stadium at 63 dB, falling to 54 dB after 23:00 hours. On 23 September 2007 he measured motocross at the Track at 62 dB, falling to 54 dB at night'. Speedway is the noisiest (just) according to the report at one point, anyway. I don't think Dave Coventry has done anything here to support stocks over speedway, and to suggest that he has is very unfair. As Simon Barton will tell you, and as I would confirm, he has usually been very supportive of the speedway at West Row - it is, after all, in his interests to have the speedway there. As I have said, I think it is not so much the actual level of noise but how long it goes on for and until what time. Where that is concerned, speedway is nowhere near as much of an issue as both the stocks and the Moto X.

I quite agree Mick but, reading the contents of the report, I don't think the speedway is the major issue. The Fen Tigers will ride between 10 & 14 matches this season, so that will be every other week. They start at 4.30 and are almost always finished within 2 hours, and what's more the start time could probably be moved back to 3.00pm or so. Although speedway is the noisiest of the activities, it does not go on late (when I have been to the Stocks they rarely finish before midnight) and they don't go on all day every weekend like the Moto X. The times and lengths of usage were, it seems to me, the real problem rather than the level of the noise and that's where speedway contrasts favourably with both stocks & Moto X.

That's the way I see it. I tried to get to talk to Dave C last night but the place was packed and he was needed pulling pints and replenishing stock. Good to see so many in attendance.

I stand to be criticised on this one (I will speak to Dave Coventry tonight) but : 1 The judge ruled against the stadium owners; 2/ Compensation totals about £20k; 3/ The judge has suggested that an arrangement be made between the parties over events at the stadium; 4/ The people who made the complaint have suggested 40 days a year and if it runs after 6pm 35 days a year; 5/ If no agreement is made, the judge may impose an injunction on noise levels that will not permit speedway (I stand very much to be corrected on this, but it appears to me that the noise levels he will allow are way below those made by speedway bikes). One thing has definitely emerged from this: even with planning permission no speedway track is safe.

Whatever the motivation for such threats (and I completely agree with your comments here)they have to be taken very seriously, although I suspect that the outcome of the court case will be the be all and end all. What I find most difficult to grasp in that court case is that the decisive point is the level of noise, not a persons decision in choosing to live next to it. Having said that, responsibility for one's own actions seems to have become secondary in the determination of legal cases and you only have to look at litigation taken by housebreakers against those defending their property to see it. Surely the point is the reason for the creation of the situation in the first place and bearing in mind that the stadium has been in existence for 35 years that can only be the person deciding to move in within earshot. In my book, that's their responsibility and no other persons, and how many of us would have sympathy for someone who moved in next to a cat food factory and complained about the smell or moved into a lighthouse and complained about the sea, because I just don't see the difference. I don't know who your source is but he is very ignorant of the actual situation, and I speak as a member of Mildenhall's track staff who starts work at around 9am on Sundays. I have found that the key to good track prepraration at West Row is the quality of the shale and the person actually undertaking the work (pretty much the same as everywhere else, in other words). In 2007, Mildenhall was voted by members of this forum as one of the best racing tracks in Britain because we had the quality shale needed and Robert Huggins as trackman. That deteriorated during 2008 due to lack of funds, and during 2009 due to poor work. I can, however, remember one Sunday when Bob Ellis took over and we got a terrific meeting, no dust and no blue line either. Joe Evans showed it could be done by getting to the track at around 10.00am and getting plenty of water down to bind the surface. Read through the pages of this forum and you will see that he attracts a great deal of deserved acknowledgement for his ability to produce a decent race track. Its entirely possible that Bob Ellis will take over again given Chris Louis' involvement and if there is a commitment to decent shale we could go back to the standards of 2007. I, too, have never had (with one notorious exception) any trouble with Dave & his brother Ron at the stadium. Quite the opposite, in fact.

With Barrie going to Hackney, I can't see Joe doing it but you never know. With Chris Louis coming in it could be Bob Ellis, a very good track man and a terrific bloke as well.

I don't think I could stomach seeing 'Nikko Racing' everywhere Fortunately two of them will have 'HT' masking it a bit. I saw James Brundle in the pits at Boutrnemouth last year and he could easily take over from Barrie Evans as the mentor for a few of the youngsters. It will be a big year for both JJ and Oliver in terms of their future in the sport, and I think they will both recognise it and step up to the plate. We all know they can do it.

I didn't say you were wrong, I just didn't think it was necessary.

Bit unnecessary, Iris. In fact, if you listen to Chris Louis's interview on BBC Radio Suffolk he gives Steve Ribbons a lot of credit and suggests that there may be a place for him at Mildenhall.

Sod off, quisling And remember you are NOT doing the longest commute to home matches.

I was just thinking after I saw Damon's post that all it needs is Adz back....... See you there mate

That's almost as good news as the team returning. You'll have to put up with the presence of your kid and Nikko, but you can't have everything

Fingers crossed for you all down there. Whatever the situation, Rob, I echo Posties comments that Steve's spade work almost certainly helped to enable the Fen Tigers to make a come back and for that reason he definitely deserves some credit.

Be nice to see Weymouth in as well.

At no point have I said it was fact,just my opinion. As I have said above, I really don't know. If anybody wants to take that as fact, that is their doing, not mine. I have 'strong, credible' suggestions that it was down to him, but I have had another that said it was not. Unlike yourself who have said 'The key point is that it was far from being all about Steve' which is an assertion, not an opinion, I have made it clear that I don't know.

I don't think that is true but I can't really give any explanation for that. Certainly Peter Morrish has expressed concern at the lack of stand alone clubs in the league. I am operating on hearsay, Rob, but I have had three opinions on this one. Two are from people I have a great deal of time and one I don't know from Adam but who seems very well informed. One very much supports your view, the others do not. Bluntly, I am not sure who to believe The only thing I find surprising is that if this isn't about Steve Ribbons and is largely about Mildenhall, why are they now considering a further bid - you would think that that would be a straight rejection.

I don't think that even their most vitriolic critic can accuse the BSPA of closing Weymouth down. That seems to be a matter of a landlord who just doesn't want the speedway there. Where Mildenhall are concerned, from posts on here it seems as though some believe that they aren't wanted full stop. The thing is though that the new bid to resurrect the Fen Tigers has been received 'positively' by the BSPA which suggests to me that it was Steve Ribbons they didn't like, not Mildenhall as such. We'll see.

Taken from the Cambridge News: New hope for Mildenhall as big names enter the frame by David Crane Mildenhall have been given a glimmer of hope just a week after being told the club had not been accepted into this year’s National League. Former Fen Tigers, King’s Lynn and Ipswich rider Kevin Jolly is in negotiations with two big names in the sport to form a new promotion. And, most crucially, Jolly has received a positive response from the British Speedway Promoters’ Association about his application. He said: "It is happening very quickly and we have a few things to sort with (stadium owner) Dave Coventry, but it is looking promising at this stage. "I think we could have a decent team and get an academy development growing, which will be very exciting." Jolly, who has been monitoring the Tigers’ situation since they folded seven months ago, saw his joint plans with Steve Ribbons to take over Mildenhall rejected by the league’s promoters last week. Fingers crossed

Just to set you straight on Neil 'Nikko' Day. He doesn't 'claim' to try and help young riders, he actually puts his money where his mouth is, year in year out. In fact, I have just come off the phone from a young riders father for whom Nikko has met half of an expensive tuning bill. He is Mildenhall through and through and was at least partly involved in the bid to take over the team, despite the fact that he now lives well over 100 miles away. Its little wonder, then, that he got upset and angry over the circumstances of the refusal decision. Its ridiculous to suggest that anyone being critical should take on a promotion, or that they don't have any credence if they are not prepared to do so. I suggest you have a quick look at your contributions on the pages of this forum, because from what I have read you have very little room to suggest that anyone else makes themselves look a fool by what they post for all to read.

I'll try and answer both of your posts in one. What Terry Waters, his son, Dave Coventry, or any other individual stands to lose isn't the issue where I am concerned. Its what the thousands that watch the stocks and the hundreds that watch the speedway will lose which is more the point. You will note that I said 'noisy earshot'. That means a serious disturbance, not some background noise that might be expected from any such amenity and lets not forget that the stadium is at the end of the air force runway - when a plane goes over, you can't hear the speedway bikes. If this person (or anyone else)moved in after the stadium was built (ie mid 1970's) they knew it was there. Consequently, they knew about the noise before moving in. If they moved in later, then they would have known about the stock cars and Moto X as well. Until you can provide a cogent and reasonable response as to why they moved in the full knowledge of the existence of the stadium and its uses, your argument will not convince anyone on this forum (or, I suspect, any other reasonable person). Lets not forget that the stadium is miles from major habitation and, as I have said, is in a noisy place anyway. Its difficult to imagine a more appropriate place for it to be. In my view, what we have is an extremely selfish individual who expects everything around them to change, no matter how long it has been there or how many people enjoy its existence. They are not satisfied with the council's recommendations or Dave Coventry's attempts to make matters easier for them and if such persons always had their way nothing would ever be built and huge numbers of amenities would be torn down. What I will not deny is that the actions that have been perpertrated against them are absolutely appalling,wholly unjustifiable and are almost certainly provoked by their stance (although proving that will be difficult). Whoever has taken these acts may just find that their stupidity could cost the stadium and its continued existence very dearly indeed.

To answer your questions the court case is about noise. I just don't understand how it can be taken seriously or hope to succeed in the circumstances but that's looking at it logically, though, and the courts don't see it that way. The grounds stated for refusal are financial and the possibility that the stadium might not be available for speedway. Planning permission restricts the use of the stadium as far as I am aware.