FARNHAM RUGBY CLUB – RELOCATION PLANS ON HOLD
• Farnham RFC facilities are very poor and were graded as 'Totally Inadequate' in the Surrey RFU 2006 facility survey
• We have over 1000 members and over 500 children playing with us each weekend - unfortunately due to our facilities we occasionally have to turn children way because we don’t have the capacity or the facilities to accommodate more.
• We have produced 2 England Internationals (Jonny Wilkinson and Peter Richards) who have both been part of the England World Cup squad that played in the World Cup Final.
• We have also produced several Junior internationals and we currently have the Ireland U18 Hooker playing with us
• We have been trying to move for a period of 10 years
• 4 years ago we were granted planning permission by Waverley Borough Council to move to a new ground on Monkton Lane in conjunction with David Lloyd Leisure (DLL). The scheme included a leisure club (tennis, pool, gym, etc) and 14 acres of flat land for the rugby club to relocate (4 pitches plus purpose built clubhouse). At that time the application was passed by WBC members although their planning officers recommended refusal. However the members judged that the community benefits out weighed the conflict with planning policy. Unfortunately the scheme was called in for a public enquiry by the Government Office for the South East (GOSE) and DLL withdrew and the scheme collapsed.
• As a consequence we worked with the council to try and identify other suitable sites/schemes. The conclusions of this work were: No other sites exist that are available or suitable; Any move would require considerable financial support; The council had no capacity to provide such financial support.
• In conjunction with this activity we sought and secured the support of a new leisure provider (Stax Ltd) and a fresh application was submitted in early 2007 for the same site but with a much enhanced scheme taking into consideration the flaws of the old scheme.
• The scheme is totally aligned with the emerging Sport England guidelines for the provision of multi-sport facilities which encourage cross sport engagement. In total the scheme will be able to cater for 10,000 sportsmen/women
• The scheme represents £25M of sporting investment; No money is required from tax payer and is entirely consistent with Government policy in terms of PFI.
• This time around the application was recommended by Waverley Planning officers, even though it was recognised that it conflicted with a number of policies. WBC members subsequently endorsed and voted overwhelmingly in favour of the planning officers recommendation in September of this year

• Despite the approval of the scheme (for the second time in 4 years) we were informed last Thursday that GOSE  has once again called the scheme in for a public enquiry.
• GOSE will not tell us the grounds for the call-in but has stated that it is over concerns of national policy conflicts. One can read anything into this statement but in reality the only national planning issue that could apply relates to mineral extraction and although it is true that this site is in the Surrey draft minerals plan it is still a draft plan and moreover the site is uneconomic to develop.
• The net effect is Farnham RUFC has yet another hurdle to overcome if it is to relocate. We are given to understand that an enquiry will not take place for at least 6 months and in reality the scheme has been put back by at least 12 months. We are in discussions with Stax concerning their appetite to continue with the process but clearly there is a risk that they may for economic reasons withdraw and we will be back where we started.
• Needless to say the membership of FRUFC is upset and angry by this turn of events. Specifically we have a real difficulty in understanding how the Government can on the one hand be extolling the virtues' of increased sporting activity (not least to offset the pending obesity crisis) while giving equal weight to preserving an unused field occupied by a couple of horses or the possibility of mineral extraction at some unknown point in the future.
• If, as this Government says, it wants sport to be at the heart of the community, wants to provide facilities to groom the sporting heroes and role models of the future it needs to do it seriously and clear away barriers that make the introduction of schemes of this nature so difficult or even impossible.
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24 October 2007
Further information from John Fairley 07703 255393