Derwent

Workington - opened 1970, closed 1981, reopened 1999, closed 2019

So no benefit to the area at all then ? Not the Sellafield and NHS workers putting money into the local economy at lunchtime etc ? Not the new NHS facilities and clinics ? Not the staging of pop concerts and major sporting events that provide a large economic boost ? Not the vastly improved facilities for juniors and grassroots sport in what will be a community stadium ? No wonder this area will never have anything when all of the above is a “complete waste of money”. Sometimes I think the folk round here get what they deserve, ie nowt.

Derwent Park won't be used for the RLWC under any circumstances. The RLWC organisers have officially confirmed that if there is no new stadium then there will not be any games in Cumbria at all and they are looking at alternative venues elsewhere in the country as a Plan B.

Lets hope so and that they build a stadium like Belle Vue specifically for speedway. That would be brilliant.

The pitch did not meet the FA's minimum width dimensions for football so the only option was to widen it. Which obviously meant the track had to go. I'm sure if they could have done the pitch alterations without dmaging the track then they would have done. But as long as football is going to be played there then there is no room for a speedway track. Now that it is looking increasingly likely that the new stadium won't be built then football looks set to be played at DP for a long time to come. I know its an emotional issue but you really can't blame anyone for a decision to accommodate a club that does exist over one that doesn't if you look at the hard facts.

I understand your anger about the track, it’s not something any of us are happy about. But the other side of the coin is that as of now there is no speedway entity in existence to ride on it. Subsequent events re Laura’s finances have shown the claim that it was a one year moratorium to be completely untrue as the promotion simply don’t have the funds to resurrect it. I don’t see anyone on the horizon looking to pour money in either. So, what are people expecting ? The track to be maintained in perpetuity on the off chance that someone eventually decides to lose money being a speedway promoter ?

Not quite true, Town do own the stadium. The council own the land it stands on, for which Town have a 199 year lease which began in 1946. Its a bit like owning a house on leasehold rather than freehold. But Town do own the actual stadium and it appears as an asset on their balance sheet. It was funded partly by the Mitchell and Graves families and also a loan from the RFL.

Well here's the thing, Town wouldn't have needed to evict the Comets. You may not know but the Comets didn't actually have a formal lease for Derwent Park. They had a contract to rent it on an "as required" meeting by meeting basis subject to availability which is a completely different thing to a lease. They basically had no rights whatsoever regarding the stadium. People who are having a go at Town need to realise that if it wasn't for their largesse then the Comets may not have completed their historic treble. Town let them use DP for the end of season meetings despite not having been paid for several weeks for the stadium's use. They could have just said sorry but you're not using it until we are paid up to date and there's not a thing Laura could have done about it.

I believe, and its only my hunch, that we will end up with a completely renovated Derwent Park instead of a new stadium. I think the council will then use the BP site to build the commercial offices etc for Sellafield and NHS as a stand alone business park.

Absolute rubbish. In fact, Town are owed a substantial five figure sum by the Comets promotion which it seems highly unlikely they will ever see. Despite the Comets success last year they appear to have left a trail of unpaid bills behind. As for the issues around the pitch/track etc - Allerdale approached Town and offered this deal, were they supposed to say no ? Town's directors have a duty to their own club not to anyone else, and certainly not to a separate commercial enterprise that doesn't even exist anymore. Plus the fact that lazy journalism and local gossip has got Allerdale paying the bill for the work at DP, I can tell you with absolute certainty that approximately 70% of the cost is being covered by a grant that the Reds secured from the FA's football foundation trust. The Reds needed to do this even if the new ground doesn't materialise, current estimated cost of essential repairs to Borough Park is in excess of £150,000 and even then it'd be in the balance whether it was granted a safety certificate.

Mainly being paid for by a funding grant the Reds secured from the FA.

Borough Park’s safety certificate expires soon and there’s no way it’ll pass another inspection without massive investment. The Reds would be looking at a new home anyway as BP is pretty much on the verge of being condemned.

I can confirm that work has started today on ripping up the track and laying new turf.

You think wrong, especially if you’ve been under declaring it. A business owner in Newcastle recently got caught by HMRC for not paying any of his 50 odd employees PAYE or NI for several years plus fiddling his VAT.

It’s not difficult to run up that kind of bill if you’ve not paid your VAT for several years.......

The £300k HMRC debt wasn’t connected to the Speedway it was another company Laura had 50% ownership of called No.10 Catering Ltd who were based in Carlisle. https://www.in-cumbria.com/news/17569086.high-court-battle-over-dormant-carlisle-catering-firm/

A company that Laura had a 50% stake in has just been wound up by the High Court over an unpaid tax bill owed to HMRC of >£300k

In the case of Workington the numbers include Laura's other business interests such as her property management and construction businesses, it is not purely the speedway business.

Wells gated but Klindt and Proctor had the second and third places they needed, and they rode every inch of the track to hold on to them for an incredible three points which kept hopes of a dream treble alive in what could be the club’s final and best ever season.

I spoke to a local councillor about this. The reason no speedway has been included in the plans is that the Comets can’t commit to a long term lease. Town and Reds have agreed to sign a 50 year lease each. They are therefore not going to add significant extra cost to the stadium project by incorporating something that may not get used in future.

The problem the Comets have is that they have nothing to contribute financially to the new stadium project. Town will surrender their lease and the council will sell the land as freehold. Same for the Reds who will surrender their lease on Borough Park to allow that land to be used for access and parking for the stadium.

They are not wasting public funds. The new stadium is to be funded by the sale of the land that DP stands on and also by an outside developer as part of the deal to build on that land. There is a common misconception that the council own DP, they don’t. The stadium itself is owned 100% by Town, the council own the land it is built on and Town have a long lease on that land. If the project goes ahead then the new stadium will be operational by 2021 in order to stage 2 games during the Rugby League World Cup.

He will be out in January if he has behaved. Sentence is automatically halved to 1 year 4 months then he will be eligible to be released on electronic tagging for the last 5 months subject to probation reports, so he will do 9 months inside altogether.

Franc £100 less Hampel £100 more

That’d be Caffreys Bar. There’s also an English pub (George and Dragon) next door. The Dubliner round the corner is better though.