IT’S A GRAYS DAY FOR ESSEX NOMADS
Fury as Grays’ move is vetoed
GRAYS Athletic chairman Steve Skinner will write a formal letter of complaint to Thurrock Council believing councillors made mis-informed comments over the club’s bid to find a new home.
The nomadic Isthmian League North side had hopes of moving to a stadium of their own dashed on Thursday evening when the council’s planning committee ruled 7-2 against plans for the redevelopment of Ship Lane, Thurrock FC’s old ground.
The 3,500-capacity stadium has been empty ever since the club closed down in 2018, but the site was purchased by the Group 1 Automotive company, whose aim was to convert part of the site into a car preparation plant but also gift Grays and the local community the stadium.
Carrot
Prior to the meeting, officers had recommended the application be refused due to the site being on green belt land and with not enough ‘special circumstances’ to override refusal.
Issues over traffic and congestion were raised i the meeting but comments from Cllr Angela Lawrence left Grays fans furious.
She said: “This is a carrot and stick trying to entice people to support them because a lot of people like the football club. They sold their own ground, why didn’t they go out and get another one rather than wait for one to be handed to them?”
Grays have been homeless since 2011 when their Recreation Ground in the heart of the town was sold by its owners to Weston Homes and was redeveloped.
A legacy gift of around £800,000 was promised by the football club’s then-owners, the Billings family, to be ring-fenced towards the cost of a new ground, but the new owners of Grays, a fans consortium, say they have not received that money.
The Step 4 side currently groundshare at Aveley, having played at East Thurrock United and West Ham United Reserves, and will now head back to the drawing board.
Constraints
“We’ve had a few false dawns over the years and that’s another one,” said disappointed Grays chief Skinner. “There’s a lot of anger, the fact the councillors voting on the proposal had no idea about our club situation is the major frustration really.
“We’re going to make a formal complaint to the Thurrock Council Planning Committee through the scrutiny committee. You can’t have a councillor making those kind of statements.
“The discussions will continue on with Thurrock Council. They have their own constraints, which we understand, with Highways England wanting to put an £11 billion road through our Borough. We do understand that causes constraints for them in terms of putting together a local plan.
“We’re very much involved in trying to formulate and be involved within the sporting provision in the local plan in line with the local football facilities plan.”