Question 1
Question from Councillor Keir Morrison to the Leader of the Council:
“Will ADC formally recognise the change petition that's been signed by almost 6,000 Ashfield residents (at 13/7/21) to retract Hucknall Sports FC's eviction notice from the Papplewick Green playing fields, in line with the council's petition scheme policy?”
Minutes:
Question from Councillor Keir Morrison to the Leader of the Council:
“Will ADC formally recognise the change petition that's been signed
by almost 6,000 Ashfield residents (at 13/7/21) to retract Hucknall
Sports FC's eviction notice from the Papplewick Green playing fields,
in line with the council's petition scheme policy?”
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Jason Zadrozny, responded and advised that Ashfield District Council did not accept Change.org petitions as it did not comply with the Council’s approved Petition Scheme requirements. Petitions submitted through Change.org provided no evidence that people signing the petition lived, worked or studied in Ashfield. The e-Petitions submitted through the Council’s website required a name, address and email address of those signing the petition.
The Council reviewed its petition scheme in February last year to provide reassurance regarding the validity of petitions and ensuring that those petitions being considered were done so by the Council with the reassurance that they were the views of Ashfield constituents and not of those people who did not live, work or study in Ashfield. Change.org did not provide this reassurance.
The Scheme was very clear that only e-Petitions submitted through the Council’s website would be considered and the Council’s e-Petition function was readily available through the Council’s website and was easy to use.
However, there was also an additional point to consider regarding the fact that the Council would not consider petitions that were factually inaccurate. An eviction notice was never handed to Hucknall Sports and as people would have seen in the press, Hucknall Sports confirmed that they had been offered not only their preferred times and site of Papplewick Green but sites at the Merlin pitch and Titchfield Park as well which they had decided to take up. They opted themselves not to take the Papplewick Green site which was the cause of the original issue.
The Leader went on to state that he was personally willing to accept the petition to ascertain if there was a way of contacting back the people who raised concerns and to try to allay their fears. The primary aim of everything the Council does was simply getting people playing sports including football and particularly for young people and for disabled youngsters.
Councillor Morrison would recognise that events had taken place since he submitted the question and that Hucknall Sports had submitted their own statements which reiterated this.
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.5, Councillor Morrison was
invited to ask a supplementary question as follows:
“The Leader is quite right that events have developed since submitting the question although I have got a supplementary question that I hope he can answer.
Given that Hucknall Sports have appeared to concede in leaving Papplewick Green playing field, can the Leader explain when the lease agreement was made with Sports Gateway, by whom and why no consultation with the Club or due diligence was carried out beforehand?”
The Leader responded again by stating that there wasn’t a lease agreement that had been signed and he had recently met with Sports Gateway and Hucknall Sports and various senior officers where this was again confirmed.
It was hoped that when a lease agreement was signed it would be for a long term period and offered on the open market. Conversations had been held with Hucknall Sports as to how they would bid for this (amongst others) and it is was anticipated that this would be in the next 12 months after the current football season had concluded.
He hoped that the answer had clarified things for Councillor Morrison but if not, he was happy for Theresa Hodgkinson to speak to him regarding the actual timeline of events rather than the misinformation that had been circulating for some time.
Hucknall Sports were advised that once the bidding process began for the lease, the process would be open and transparent and many other clubs and interested parties would be invited to bid as many had already indicated that they would like to use the site.
The Leader reiterated the fact that he had been disappointed with the ‘machismo’ and egos that had surfaced during these meetings (with no clubs being faultless in this matter) and it was imperative that all the clubs worked together in the future to ensure as many people as possible were utilising the pitches and playing sports.
Sport was not just about the next famous athlete, it was about improving health, camaraderie, community and wellbeing for all residents of Ashfield. The Council had also made it clear that unless the clubs were prepared to work together as part of a community, the Council would not wish to work with them.
Council officers had been given permission to share details of the discussions so far, in relation to this matter, with any Member that were interested as the Council had nothing to hide and it would ensure that everyone had the facts rather than misinformation and untruths.
It was believed that negotiations would start up again once the current sports seasons were over and the long-term aim of the Council was to ensure that all available pitches were used as much as possible to allow people of all ages to engage with sport and improve their wellbeing.