JessicaJones

It was never my intention to “make up numbers” and I was typing on the go-actually while I was at Wimbledon. And sometimes there are typos and errors when you are typing on the go. Oxford may have brought back speedway and that’s good news. The campaign to end the greyhound racing there (though the racing has not have started yet) will continue. Many of the local councillors are against it and LACS will ensure that the campaign is ongoing. So the future is not secured still if reliant on that. I believe that Oxford has other facilities too which should hopefully help to support the speedway. As we all know though, Oxford is a different situation to Swindon, which is owned by GI Ltd. I have delved into their accounts and into their associated companies going back many years and it’s been pretty obvious what their game plan has been. And greyhound racing at Swindon is not profitable for the company. The only way to ensure that the speedway team is able to continue is for the stadium to diversify. We pushed for the council to work with GI on this at least three years ago. We worked on developing good relationships with the councillors, council officers, residents and the local press. Hence I say that we could have had a good campaign if the two groups has worked together.

I know the latest figure is around 400 but that’s hardly representative when many tracks were closed for a long period because of the pandemic! In the previous years, it was around 1,000 per year and it will likely go back up again now that most tracks are operating for the whole year again. Besides, do you really think that these figures are truthfully reported? Even greyhound trainers/owners acknowledge that they are underreported as injuries are not always apparent until a dog has left the track. I have said all along that we support the speedway. We know it’s important to the town. I originally joined this forum to see if any of the Robins fans would work with us to push the council in finding alternative uses for the track so that it doesn’t rely on greyhound racing and so that the future of the speedway would be secured. I was never on a “witch hunt”. I’ll reiterate that it’s a shame that our approach was met with such negativity and that so many speedway fans-many but not all-care so little about animal abuse that they weren’t willing to join forces. Also, as I have said, whether you care about the dogs or not, relying on greyhound racing would hasten the end of the speedway, not keep it going, so combined we could have had a very effective campaign. I am still offering to help by passing on the name and number of the planning officer who is dealing with the case if any Robins fans wanted to find out what’s going on. I have spoken to the officer several times about it over the last couple of years. No one has taken me up on the offer.

Agree, GWC. That’s what the person I was in touch with had suggested when I approached him for help with the stadium 4 years ago. He was working with Swindon Council on some developments and said this would be the sensible thing to do for all parties (residents, council, speedway and the company). I believe that an agreement could have been reached to do this if the council had pushed for it but they didn’t. I know that someone above has said that it would have been difficult to get the company to cough up and yes, I agree-difficult but not impossible. I’m sure someone on here knows better than me on planning but there are section 106 agreements that can be put in place to secure funding for community developments when house builders are putting up a housing estate. As it was a condition for the site, it would have been the most sensible agreement all round as it’s becoming clear that GI Ltd had one purpose in mind for the site all along.

Also Baiden, I said it was an RTE report commissioned by the industry. RTE reported on it but the IGB commissioned Preferred Results to write the report. I know it was leaked. I have watched the (very shocking) RTE documentary on greyhound racing which set out the background to the report.

Baiden-you also need to include the circa 1,000 dogs that die as a result of being raced each year. These are the industry’s own figures, published after a House of Commons select committee forced the GBGB to publish the injury and death statistics a few years ago-all available on their website. The number you quoted may be Ireland, but do you think it’s much different in England? Have you heard of David Smith and what he did? It’s really sad that so many of the speedway fans are happy that greyhounds are used as collateral damage to prop up their sport. Why don’t the speedway teams try to dissociate themselves from it and be independent? Greyhound racing at Swindon is not profitable anyway so relying on it to keep the speedway going was never going to be a long term solution for the club. It baffles me that none of the fans recognised this and pushed the council, as we were trying to do, to change the use but preserve the speedway track. I am surprised that no one seems to have got on to the council officers to find out what’s going on with the build. I have suggested to the Save Our Abbey Stadium Twitter feed that they do this but didn’t get an answer. Justin Tomlinson won’t do anything. It’s up to the council officers in the planning office to ensure that the new stadium build is delivered and that the conditions are met. I have been in touch with the planning officer dealing with it and have their number which I offered to pass on to whoever runs the SOAS Twitter feed but didn’t get a reply.

To all the others on here who are a bit more receptive than Orion, who has been consistently unpleasant from day one, our “mob” of people who care about greyhound abuse would still be happy to work with the speedway team and to support you. Feel free to talk to us anytime.

That’s rubbish, Orion. Greyhounds have been around for thousands of years and raced in this country for less than a hundred. And many are bred for racing but go missing each year-an RTE report commissioned by the industry estimated that around 7,000 go missing each year. So even if fewer are bred, fewer will be killed as wastage for the industry. I’m sure I’ve explained all this to you before! Relying on greyhound racing to keep the stadium going will see the end of speedway. You should have pushed for alternative uses to prop up the speedway. Shall be muting you again (which I thought I had done already) as conversations with you are never very constructive or helpful.

The sensible thing to do would have been for the council to have agreed with GI Ltd to take a lump sum for a speedway track that is then built out of town, away from the houses. Allow GI Ltd to build the houses/whatever else they are putting on the site because they are going to do that anyway. But the council could have negotiated with the company for the lump sum at the beginning then there wouldn't be all this messing around now. Look at what happened with Wallyford stadium in Scotland. By the way, this suggestion did not come from me. It came from someone I was in touch with who was working with the council on various developments but who asked me to keep his involvement confidential. With only around 100 people going in on the main greyhound racing night of the week now, down from 200-300 pre pandemic (in a venue with a capacity of 2,000) to watch the greyhound racing, even with the streaming rights, it's not worth it for GI Ltd. Getting income from selling off the land will make them far more money. We have been saying this to the council for years. Thanks to whoever referred to us as a 'mob' on here though! We are a group of citizens who want to stop cruelty to greyhounds and who have consistently supported the speedway team from the very beginning! We have pointed out that relying on greyhound racing for the Robins' survival is not sustainable. We would have been happy to have worked with the Robins fans and you are always very welcome to join the 'mob' on Sunday evenings at the track if you like. If we'd have pooled our resources at the beginning, we could have had a very effective campaign. By the way, one of the Swindon trainers has applied for retrospective planning permission for his 50 dogs to be kept in an old grain store - basically a big tin shed that's hot in the summer, cold in the winter, no ventilation and only a small space to exercise the dogs when they are let out of their cages for a short time during the day. Not a great life for any of them. That is one of the many reasons why we are raising awareness about the cruel industry of greyhound racing and why we want speedway teams to disassociate themselves from it. There are other speedway teams that operate as a sole entity without relying on a cruel industry to prop them up. Even if you don't agree that greyhound racing is cruel, a quick look at GI Ltd's history would have shown that they have form in shutting greyhound tracks so it was never a good idea to rely on that side of the business to keep the speedway going.

@Orion - yes, JT will be culpable but it's the council officers and the councillors on the planning committee that will be responsible. Were you at the most recent two council meetings at which it was discussed? I was. JT's mum (a councillor at the time) had quite a lot to say. He wasn't there though. We also tried to call a council debate on it but the officers wouldn't allow the debate to go ahead.

@racers and royals - we are there every Sunday to raise awareness about how cruel the greyhound racing is. We have supported the speedway all along. The speedway team wasn't interested in working with us. We have stated every time we have made a public statement that we support the speedway and that relying on greyhound racing will hasten the end of the track, not keep it going. @thecoombdog - greyhound racing isn't profitable for Gaming International Ltd. They only reported a profit in their last set of accounts because they sold off land to housing developers on the site. Greyhound racing on its own makes a loss for the company. But worth it in the short to medium term for the money they will get when they sell off the rest of the site.

https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/19557481.wallyford-greyhound-stadium-plan-officially-scrapped-20-years/

This track had the same condition on it as Swindon stadium has - rebuild a stadium before any new houses can be built. https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/19557481.wallyford-greyhound-stadium-plan-officially-scrapped-20-years/

126 new houses are going up in the carpark according to the most recent plans.

Not sure what 'fight' you are referring to. I didn't come on here to fight with anyone. I was asked if I ate meat. I said no. I made the point that if I had said yes, I would have been called a hypocrite for eating animals but wanting to defend dogs, but when I said no, I get wisecracks from a number of you (though as I've now 'ignored' a number of posters, I have no idea what they have said). When I say I don't eat meat, people always ask why, and then they never like the answer. I don't like the platitude of 'be kind' as it's a bit patronising but having recently lost my Dad in a distressing way to then come on here and get nasty comments was not nice. I do think some posters on here should think twice about how they respond to people. All too easy to sit behind a keyboard and type out nasty comments because they find it amusing. I've broken my rule of responding but I will step away for now. Perhaps at some point our groups could support each other but I think it's only a matter of time before GI Ltd end up closing the stadium and selling it for housing. I hope the speedway team manage to find another site if that happens and is able to run the sport without relying on greyhound racing to prop it up.

My Dad died of a brain tumour three weeks ago so forgive me for realising that life is too short to spend my time responding to any of your 'banter' on here. Happy to have constructive discussions about how we help each other with the speedway track. Otherwise I'll be hitting the ignore button.

Going to now 'ignore' the last four posters. I replied to someone's comment with an honest answer about whether I ate meat (I do not and no, I don't support any sport that involves cruelty to animals) and get rude messages back as a result. I understand that my stance on eating meat will make some people feel uncomfortable. I used to feel the same. We often get accused of hypocrisy by people saying that we oppose greyhound racing but still eat meat. Can't win with that one! If I said I ate meat, I'd get accused of hypocrisy. When I say I don't, I get derided for that and get told that's pathetic. You can join Orion in saying what you like about me now as I won't see it (happily). I came on here to support the speedway team and to see if our groups could work together. I appreciate those who have engaged with me in a constructive way and will just use the ignore button on the unpleasant ones. Life is too short.

I did thanks. For about 20 years then I gave it up. My only regret is that I didn't give it up earlier. They say if abbatoirs had glass walls everyone would be a vegetarian!

I have just discovered the 'ignore' button. Very useful for ignoring rude and patronising misogynists! If the speedway team wanted to explore alternative sites in Swindon, the anti greyhound racing group would support you all. Let us know what we can do (e.g. speaking to local councillors, getting local support).

That's exactly my point - that relying on greyhound racing will only help to close the stadium down. Despite your rudeness to me, we seem to be in agreement on that point! Not sure why you refer to our group as 'nutters'. They are nice people who don't want to see dogs killed or injured. Says a lot about you that you consider them to be nutters. Most people in Swindon want the speedway team to have a site and to be successful. We could have all worked together which is why I came on this forum. Most people on this forum also seem pessimistic that GI Ltd will ever redevelop the site and I agree with everyone on that. I won't bother replying to you again. Very telling that you like replying to me on here. I've had some nice, supportive replies from people on here and you come on to reply to me and are extremely rude. A touch of misogyny, I suspect.

I do understand that, Orion. I'd prefer not to interact with you again. I find you very rude. Please don't reply or interact with any of my messages any more.

Thanks @Racin Jason 72 - that's good to hear. My comment was aimed at those who continually tell us that, without greyhound racing, the track at Swindon wouldn't be able to function and therefore the speedway would disappear. I find that stance disappointing. But good to hear that not one speedway owned stadium allows greyhound racing. I thought that was the case but good to have it confirmed.

There are several options that the council could consider. I also spoke to the philanthropist who wanted to develop Swindon town centre and he had some ideas too which he was going to put forward to the council. However, the council didn't seem to want to consider any of them. There are standalone speedway tracks here and there are many other uses of a speedway track that could be used to subsidise speedway. Gaming International have reported a loss in their last set of accounts for 2018 and 2019 so I can't see that greyhound racing as a spectator sport has a future at Swindon. And to rely on that to subsidise speedway is very short sighted. Far better to propose alternative uses for the stadium that are more financially viable. The stadium itself is in a terrible state and it's hard to believe that GI Ltd are going to come good on their promise to redevelop it, especially as they are a loss making company and greyhound racing is in decline in the UK. The idea of having a standalone speedway site away from the houses seems like a good one if the fans could raise the money and find a site. On Facebook, whenever the track is mentioned on local community groups, speedway fans seem to think that it's the speedway that residents object to. Most residents that have been in touch with us say they don't mind the noise of the speedway and they bought knowing they would have to live with that noise. It's the noise of the dogs crying during the day as they are kennelled at the back of the stadium that has distressed some local residents and caused them to object, especially now people are working at home during the day.

That's correct - anything involving animal cruelty has no place in our society. And it's a shame that some people want to continue to rely on it to fund their sport/hobby rather than finding more ethical ways of keeping their sport going.

@Lefty - The sarcasm in your post went completely over my head hence my very literal reply!

@chris116 I am slightly sceptical that there is a new stadium in storage in Wales. I've seen rumours that storage costs weren't paid so it was dismantled - and that's even if it existed in the first place..... Does anyone have any evidence that it did/does exist?