LEGAL FIGHT OVER BID TO BULLDOZE KEMPTON

THE JOCKEY CLUB are facing a bitter legal battle to close down Kempton as the scale of opposition to their plans became clear. Grand National winning trainer Oliver Sherwood (below) has called for a ‘Save Kempton’ campaign and said the National Hunt community should not simply ‘lie down and accept’ that the historic home of the King George VI Chase could be bulldozed and replaced by a housing estate. Local opposition, already mobilised by previous plans to develop part of the site, will also be significantly cranked up. Alan Doyle of the Keep Kempton Green campaign, an offshoot of the Lower Sunbury Residents Association, called the proposals a ‘staggering act of sporting and environmental vandalism’. Doyle said he believed the Jockey Club would try to have ‘Kempton’s Green Belt status lifted’ and predicted the scale of the 3,000 home development would raise to £250million rather than the £100m stated by the Jockey Club, who had ‘pound signs in their eyes’. Doyle added: ‘We have been lied to and there has been subterfuge. ‘Frankly, nobody trusts them any more. We may win or we may not but you cannot go down without a fight. It will have to end up being a fight between barristers, which is a shame because up to until a few years ago Kempton Park and Lower Sunbury were good neighbours.’ Spelthorne Borough Council leader Ian Harvey has voiced his opposition and Doyle said the local community was united. He added: ‘Our new leader, the leader of the opposition and the head of planning have all gone public to say we will not allow development at Kempton Park if we can help it. ‘But ultimately this will not be their decision. This is going to end up in front of a Planning Inspector.’ The Jockey Club revealed the Kempton plan on Monday along with proposals to move the King George to Sandown and build an all-weather track in Newmarket.