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Here are some extracts from the report of that meeting from the QPR 1st web site
"We first spoke about the Astroturf/Hammersmith Park South Africa Road site. Both Councillors explained that the council (along with all other London Boroughs) very rarely gave permission to build on public parkland. It was acknowledged with reference to a map that there are very few green areas in the North of the Borough (Shepherds Bush and White City) and these are very important to the local communities. We were told the council had in fact made a statement in public to this effect only last week.
Councillor Burke also stated to us that they (the council) have had no conversations with the club in relation to building on Hammersmith park, but then went onto explain there had been discussions with the club in David Davies' time about applying for a grant to enable the football in the community department to facilitate improvements and building work to the Astroturf site with including new pitches for a "QPR School of Excellence" which also would have been available for community use.
We then moved on to ask about the Linford Christie Stadium (the Wormwood Scrubs area) and Councillor McLaughlin explained that this particular area of land is government owned, it is not, and will not be up for sale, though there was the potential for some small work to be undertaken right next to the stadium, which is indeed now the case, with Chelsea football club using the money they received from Barclays (via the Premier League) allowing them to build a couple of football pitches there for their youth purposes.
The third (and final) piece of land we asked about was the area known as the Unigate/Dairy crest site. This is a piece of land that extends from the back of White City tube station right the way under the Westway and just past it the other side. It was explained that this land is presently owned by developers (and there are a number of them involved) and is currently what is generally known as a 'land bank', although the initial plans from our understanding is for it to be converted into a sports complex/leisure centre, along with housing. At present, this land is worth millions, and with the multiplex building work currently now underway (which is going to be a stone's throw from the dairy crest site), once completed, should any other outside interested parties wish to purchase any area of this land, the costs will rocket further.
This piece of land, due to its vast footprint, would obviously be the ideal place for any proposed new ground and we asked if any planning applications had been received by the council from the current land owners to which the response was no, but that once the multiplex began to progress, they would then expect to receive applications.
It was emphasised that where land is concerned, things can change, so until/if this piece of land is actually built upon for specific development/purposes in the future, it's quite possible that the usage could change if the price were right."
"We first spoke about the Astroturf/Hammersmith Park South Africa Road site. Both Councillors explained that the council (along with all other London Boroughs) very rarely gave permission to build on public parkland. It was acknowledged with reference to a map that there are very few green areas in the North of the Borough (Shepherds Bush and White City) and these are very important to the local communities. We were told the council had in fact made a statement in public to this effect only last week.
Councillor Burke also stated to us that they (the council) have had no conversations with the club in relation to building on Hammersmith park, but then went onto explain there had been discussions with the club in David Davies' time about applying for a grant to enable the football in the community department to facilitate improvements and building work to the Astroturf site with including new pitches for a "QPR School of Excellence" which also would have been available for community use.
We then moved on to ask about the Linford Christie Stadium (the Wormwood Scrubs area) and Councillor McLaughlin explained that this particular area of land is government owned, it is not, and will not be up for sale, though there was the potential for some small work to be undertaken right next to the stadium, which is indeed now the case, with Chelsea football club using the money they received from Barclays (via the Premier League) allowing them to build a couple of football pitches there for their youth purposes.
The third (and final) piece of land we asked about was the area known as the Unigate/Dairy crest site. This is a piece of land that extends from the back of White City tube station right the way under the Westway and just past it the other side. It was explained that this land is presently owned by developers (and there are a number of them involved) and is currently what is generally known as a 'land bank', although the initial plans from our understanding is for it to be converted into a sports complex/leisure centre, along with housing. At present, this land is worth millions, and with the multiplex building work currently now underway (which is going to be a stone's throw from the dairy crest site), once completed, should any other outside interested parties wish to purchase any area of this land, the costs will rocket further.
This piece of land, due to its vast footprint, would obviously be the ideal place for any proposed new ground and we asked if any planning applications had been received by the council from the current land owners to which the response was no, but that once the multiplex began to progress, they would then expect to receive applications.
It was emphasised that where land is concerned, things can change, so until/if this piece of land is actually built upon for specific development/purposes in the future, it's quite possible that the usage could change if the price were right."
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