Drop the Pilot
Hastings United chairman Dave Walters has a vision for a new state-of-the-art football stadium which it seems he is having trouble getting the Borough Council to buy into.
The football supremo wants the Council to flog the club's current ground at The Pilot Field and use the cash to fund a brand-spanking new multi-million pound stadium on a new site elsewhere in the town.
The new ground would not only house the town's football team in a stadium more befitting a club with ambitions to reach the high echelons of the non league pyramid but also provide top of the range sporting facilities for the local community.
However, council leader Peter Pragnell and co seem reluctant to throw their weight behind the scheme and, with the economic climate worsening and potential developers increasingly unlikely to splash the cash on The Pilot Field, the ambitious plans are in danger of stalling.
This cannot be allowed to happen.
As a season ticket holder at Brighton and Hove Albion I have seen first hand the devastating effect a playing in an unfit stadium can have on a club.
Years stuck at Withdean after being left homeless by crooked former owners has financially crippled the Albion to the extent that the club's mere existence is considered by many fans as a nothing short of a miracle.
The Seagull's pursuit of a new stadium at Falmer is well documented but the stalling tactics of Lewes District Council is an accurate premonition of what can happen if a local council does not back its local football club.
Years of squabbling, planning appeals and delays has decimated the club's finances and left its fans - 60,000 of whom signed a petition BACKING the ground - watching a second-rate team in second-rate facilities.
Hastings United may not be performing at the same level as Brighton but that does not mean the support from its local politicians should be any less.
Tens of millions of pounds are flooding into the town as the Council and Government try to regenerate the area.
We have heard no end about the plans for education and business and the flourishing arts scene of St Leonards seems to have the cultural and artistic side covered.
But what about sport?
In an area of high depravation and startlingly low academic achievement, sport can provide so many with so much.
Pupils who struggle with maths and science but flourish at football or rugby deserve top-class sporting provisions.
More importantly, a town which historically has little to cheer about deserves a football team it can really get behind.
Last season I witnessed first hand the galvanising effect a successful local football team can have a on a town. Against all the odds my home-town side Horsham FC won through to a high-profile FA Cup tie against pro outfit Swansea City - taking the Welsh giants to a replay in front of the Sky cameras.
As well as the financial rewards, which were plentiful, the club saw a marked increase in attendances and attracted a wealth of new, younger supporters to matches.
Unfortunately, this currently has a far from happy ending. Having sold their ground to residential developers and secured land for a new modern stadium the future looked brighter for the Hornets.
However, despite the success of the team, despite the huge boost to the town's profile the club had provided and despite the pride it has returned to local people, Horsham District Council refused planning permission for the club's chosen site.
This has left Horsham homeless and having to play their home games miles away in Worthing. Every positive step forward the club had managed the previous season seemingly undone but short-sighted and NIMBY influenced councillors.
Despite the best efforts of the club and its hardcore supporters, home attendances have plummeted and fans are now voicing real concerns about whether the club will ever find its way back home.
Were Horsham FC allowed to slowly drift out of existence after more than 100 glorious years the blood would be well and truly on the hands of the councillors who failed to support them.
Councillors who were all too happy to bask in the success of the club's cup run but have not been seen since.
Councillors apparantly more interested in promoting Horsham in Bloom than the town's top football club.
This is a warning the likes of Peter Pragnell would be well advised to take heed of.
When Lewes District Council continued to object to Brighton's plans for Falmer, the politicians who were most vociferous in their opposition were shown the door come election time.
Football fans are voters too and Hastings Borough Council should never forget that.
Hastings United needs a new home to thrive and Hastings as a town needs a flourishing United to help restore and promote local pride.
A new stadium could become an iconic part of 1066 Country and it is the Council's duty to help make sure Dave Walters' dream can become a reality every Hastings United fan can share in.
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Weather for Hastings
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
