Former England captains pitch in to final battle at Lord’s
THEY once stood side by side on the field, but some of the sport’s biggest stars have now been divided over the future of the Home of Cricket.
A redevelopment debate that has raged for a decade finally looks set to be settled during a Special General Meeting of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) next month.
But as the discussion draws to a close, both sides have given their plans a final push, pitting former England captains Mike Gatting and Mike Brearley against their once team-mate David Gower.
Despite its confidence that it will win the vote, the MCC has sent a slick video to members featuring Mr Brearley, Mr Gatting and Matthew Fleming, the current president of the club and a former Kent and England player, extolling the virtues of the redevelopment “Masterplan”.
The redevelopment, which will have cost £89m by 2027, will be paid for by the club based on the money that they will get for membership and hosting two test matches a year, if they can secure the games.
The alternative, also controversial plan – backed by Mr Gower – would allow property developer Rifkind Associates – which owns the tunnels under the Nursery End of the ground – to build flats within the ground in return for £100million for the club.
The committee argues that its own plans will ensure it remains the “finest cricket ground in the world” without damaging the “character and ambience” of the ground.
Mr Gatting told members in the video: “I am a great advocate for the up- dated Masterplan because it gives us what I say is a proper ground, a little village green with nothing other than grass, and it will have a lovely feel about it.” But those who argue against the plan are making a last-ditch effort to change the minds of the committee.
A draft letter, which has already been sent to the chairman and chief executive, and will be sent with signatures in the coming weeks, warns: “None of us have any intrinsic wish to see residential development at Lord’s for its own sake. However, given the inordinate benefits, we are persuaded that this is a price worth paying.”
Mr Gower argues that the £100million windfall is “not to be sniffed at” in uncertain times.
Plans for the 200-year-old ground have been dogged by controversy since 1999, when the club failed to purchase the redundant tunnels under the eastern edge of the ground from Railtrack and the land went to Charles Rifkind’s property development company.
By 2007, plans had been put forward for The Vision, which involved redeveloping the ground and building flats in exchange for a £100million windfall for the MCC. The plans were abandoned in 2009 after the recession hit and the chairman, Oliver Stocken, decided it was too risky.
The committee has dismissed the letter on the grounds that they believe they have the support of the majority of the members.
Gerald Corbett, the MCC committee chairman, said: “It is one of the easiest business decisions I have had to take: nobody wants flats, we don’t need flats and it is a lousy deal we couldn’t recommend anyway.”
♦ The National Trust is “compromising its reputation” with its support for a controversial tunnel cutting through the sacred Stonehenge landscape on a “brutal scale”, members have warned.
The embattled charity is accused of giving its blessing to a plan that will “inject enormous amounts of concrete into the most significant prehistoric landscape if not in Britain, in the whole of Europe”.
It is facing a rebellion from members at its AGM next month, as they demand that it rethink its position on the proposal to upgrade the clogged A303 by transforming the road into a dual carriageway, buried in a 1.8-mile tunnel dug through the 3.4-mile-wide Stonehenge World Heritage Site.