Kempton demolition looks a non-runner
THE Jockey Club’s plans to knock down historic Kempton Park for a massive property development appear to be dead in the water.
The racecourse owners and Redrow Homes jointly proposed the closure of hugely popular Kempton, which hosts the iconic King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, to build 3,000 homes. The £200million raised from the land grab would be used to improve other Jockey Club courses including Sandown, the recommended new home of the King George.
But after 13 months of silence since the controversial idea was first floated to anger throughout racing, Spelthorne Council have clearly indicated that Kempton, situated in Surrey’s green belt, is not under consideration as a new housing site.
The council, whose leadership vehemently opposed the closure, commissioned consultants to assess the borough’s green belt and Kempton Park was found to be ‘strongly performing’. A council statement added: ‘This means that it fulfils the purposes of green belt and is therefore unlikely to be considered for housing.’
ONLY the dysfunctional RFU could plead with their councillors to stop calling female staff ‘sweetheart’, ‘darling’ and ‘love’ during the same meeting at which women’s rugby development officer posts were axed as part of a community game restructuring. A RFU spokeswoman said it was due to the integration of the men’s and women’s games but that female officials could just as easily be appointed to the new integrated posts.
STAUNCH Aussie Eddie Jones outed himself yesterday as a West Ham fan, saying his favourite players as a kid were ‘the big tough defenders’ Billy Bonds and Frank Lampard Snr, and the ‘artist at the front’ Trevor Brooking. Jones had assistant West Ham manager Stuart Pearce (above) at his England rugby camp this week, saying: ‘We had a great chat about how he and David Moyes are trying to revive the club. Brooking always reminded me of cricketer Greg Chappell playing football, bit of an artist, and they have that claret and light blue jersey I liked. Had them into the team meeting and Ben Te’o was the only West Ham supporter.’
BELEAGUERED PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor has an explanation for why he keeps over £50million worth of the players’ union’s money in investments. Taylor told former colleagues he wants twice the amount of the PFA’s annual Premier League TV rights funding — £25m — in reserve so he can carry on for at least two years if the PL pull the plug. Meanwhile, the highly respected Casey Stoney, who has joined England women’s coach Phil Neville’s coaching team after a distinguished playing career, sits on the 12-strong PFA management committee. Hopefully Stoney will speak out about the antiquated way Taylor, 73, runs the association.