This week marked the end of the public consultation period on the latest step of the planning process for our new stadium and if you have shown your support, I would like to thank you. Actually, if you have objected for good and valid reasons relating to this step in the process I would also like to thank you because it would just show you have reviewed the facts relating to the situation and objectively come to your own conclusion for what you believe is to the benefit of the wider community.

I have read every single comment on the planning portal and a few of the objections have given me pause for thought and as with any request from the community we will think and act with consideration towards those comments as we move forward. But only a few meet that ‘good and valid’ threshold. The rest leave a lot to be desired if you value honesty and transparency.

I personally have been responsible for the astroturf since returning to Champion Hill in 2018 and I am there a lot, I photograph it regularly, at random not convenient times so my opinions are objective and evidence-based and I think the healthiest thing this community could do is at least agree on the facts and reject the sorts of lies and exaggeration that are sadly a common occurrence in most campaigns when the truth is seen as a barrier to getting what you want.

Let’s agree that the astroturf is in such disrepair that organised sports are neither safe nor possible. Let’s also agree that there are no bats and it is of minimal ecological value, so minimal in fact that the proposed development was judged to be an environmental upgrade. Let’s also agree that it is not used by hundreds of people every day. Let’s agree it is deserted during the day each weekday, popular with school kids after school on a Friday and then empty most weekends compared to every other park and open space in the area. Let’s agree that its openness is the direct cause of the rubbish and anti-social behaviour we are working to reduce with our community group.

Let’s also agree that these regeneration plans will bring free, higher quality and higher volume sporting and leisure facilities for local school children than the current dilapidated astroturf provides, for these are the facts however inconvenient a truth they are to those that oppose the stadium plans.

As a club we know more than most that much-loved facilities can become outdated and fall into such disrepair that to deliver the sort of experience our community deserves we must accept that only a new facility will suffice. We do no justice to this generation or the next in arguing for the preservation of facilities that are in disrepair and clearly not fit for purpose, that now only offer a poor-quality experience that deteriorates year in, year out to the point that they will eventually be lost forever. Doing nothing will be the start of the end for the club, the stadium and the astroturf.

If I am allowed one opinion rather than commenting on the opinions of others then it is this. Whether we like it or not the stadium, surrounding area and the astroturf have deteriorated to such a degree that they are all in need of regeneration. We can be emotionally attached to them but it is time to move on before they reach the point of no return and this is our chance to make something better for us and those who come after us.

But I don’t need the final word here, let’s leave that to the objectors because after reading their comments they have convinced me with their arguments about how they think this should be decided and I hope they convince the council as well. Let’s agree to accept the primary argument of most objectors that the most important factor for the council to consider is the impact on the individuals in the community of the potential loss of a much-loved community asset. Personally, it’s not an argument I like as I think it creates a numbers game and it sets one group against another. But fine, if that’s the defining argument they want the council to listen to then so be it. Let’s then agree that the potential loss to hundreds of employees and thousands of fans of the community asset that is the football club outnumbers the dozens or hundreds it is claimed will be impacted by the loss of the astroturf in its current form.

Let’s agree that if you are placing the importance of a community asset to the greatest number of people at the heart of your argument the only conclusion is that this application must be allowed to proceed.