PLANNING FARCE HOLDS UP BRUM SPEEDWAY RETURN

15-09-2006

Speedway bosses are confident their sport will return to Birmingham after councillors said yesterday they were minded to give the go-ahead for a three-year trial at Perry Barr - but delays in giving final approval could still scupper the plan.

Members of the city's planning committee took the unusual step of over-ruling advice from officers who wanted the bid turned down because of concerns over noise, andgave the green light for the return of the Brummies who folded in 1986.

Now legal advisors are drawing up maximum permitted sound limits but - and here's the catch -they have to acceptable to both the council and the promoter Tony Moles.

Once agreement has been reached the decision has to be rubber-stamped at another planning meeting, and that could mean Moles misses the October 31 deadline for applications to the sport's Premier League.

Perry Buck from the Brummies Supporters Club was fuming at the delays and accused council officers of delaying tactics to try and frustrate the plan.

“We first put this planning application in 11 months ago, and they have a statutory duty to come to a decision in two months” he said.

“After that kind of delay we deserve a bit of preferential treatment and our application should be heard within the time limit, but I think they are deliberately dragging their feet.

“Now we're in this ridiculous situation where councillors say they want to approve it, but their decision was not to approve it, but instead to defer it to another committee meeting sothey can approve it. It's a farce”.

Birmingham Council told us officers were “doing their best” to get an agreement on noise limits and are “aware” of the promoters deadline.