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B HAMMERING hom UOYED by the Coventry campaigners’ recent success in persuading Rugby Borough Council to block plans to build new homes at Brandon, the men behind the bid to restore speedway to Thurrock in Essex now hope supporters will help turn their dream into reality. In some respects, Thurrock Hammers Ltd face less obstacles than the Save Coventry Speedway and Stox group, who anxiously await the next move from owners Brandon Estates. The site, vacated very much against their will by the Lakeside Hammers team before the end of the 2018 season, is no longer in the hands of residential property developers London Strategic Land Partners Ltd (LSL), the company that originally bought the land from the former stock-car-promoting family for more than £16 million. After five years and for reasons unexplained, LSL subsequently withdrew their plans and sold the land on last July for a hefty profit. The new owner of the Arena-Essex site is Global Infrastructure (UK) Ltd, a subsidiary of tech giants Google. And early indications are that the American search engine company propose to build a data centre on the land adjacent to the M25 motorway, as they are proposing to do at another Essex location in North Weald. This would surely remove possible objections by them, purely on grounds of noise and nuisance, to sharing a relatively small parcel of their land with a neighbouring speedway club that raced there for 35 seasons. Mark Sexton, one of the three Thurrock Hammers directors, along with Russell Keetch and Ian Smalley, explained the current state of play and how supporters all over the UK, as well as local Hammers fans, can help persuade Thurrock Council that the Hammers are a valued community asset and should feature in future developments at the site. Mark told Speedway Star: “After prolonged lobbying, the full Thurrock Council unanimously passed a resolution on January 25, 2023 to protect and include speedway in its Local Plan process. “It therefore came as a matter of considerable surprise and disappointment to find no mention of speedway at the ArenaEssex site, or elsewhere in Thurrock, when the council published its Initial Proposals (Regulation 18) document as part of the Local Plan process in mid-December, 2023. “In the light of what might be described as the Council Planning Department’s statement of intent, this was a matter of major concern. “We believe that national and Thurrock TONY McDONALD on a ‘call to action’ by the men behind the Thurrock revival bid Council policies are in place for the ongoing protection of sporting facilities at risk from development and MUST be applied for speedway as part of any scheme for the development of the Arena-Essex site. “Our position is that the correct application of these policies means that a speedway track and associated facilities should be a requirement for any planning permission for the development of the ArenaEssex site. The Initial Local Plan Proposals (Regulation 18) document is part of a statutory consultation process and the current consultation period gives us an opportunity to make the case for speedway’s inclusion. “The Hammers’ campaign team is in the process of doing exactly that and expect to timetable a meeting with a former leader of the Council and Thurrock Council’s Head of Place shortly. “The consultation process, which began on December 18, 2023, will conclude on February 19, 2024. “This is the time for supporters to register their views and work with us to try to ensure that speedway’s future is secure in Thurrock. As part of the consultation process, it is vital that they let their views be known. “Our call to action is to suggest that people email localplan@thurrock.gov.uk when, in addition to making personal and straightforward expressions of interest that we all share, it is vital for fans to put the point in planning terms.” If any fans are unsure how to express their support, they can refer to handy suggestions listed on the speedway club’s website at www.thurrockhammers.com under the news heading ‘A call to action to all Hammers and Speedway Supporters’. M ARK, his co-directors and their expert advisers, including Brian Connolly who has played a key role in the Coventry campaign, believe that what has transpired at Brandon will prove a positive catalyst for Thurrock, Peterborough and other clubs in their future battles to keep the bikes roaring in the face of bad planning applications, local need and sporting heritage. “The planning inspector’s decision at Coventry completely validated everything we’ve said all along for the past four years and more,” Mark said. “The decision to block Brandon Estates has turned everything on its head. The attack on speedway has been defeated and we will use this precedent to support the campaign. “It’s important that Thurrock Council and their various departments are not blinded by the light. It’s up to all of us, collectively, to convince them that speedway is not an unviable, dying sport and that it means a great deal to an awful lot of people, that there is a demand for it. “When LSL put their planning application in, we believe their consultants tried to convince the council that speedway wasn’t worth bothering with. For example, they tried to justify it by quoting low attendance numbers for 2017 National Development League meetings, not the 2018 Championship (second tier) figures, which were obviously higher. “We see this as a golden opportunity for Thurrock Council to back a very meaningful community scheme. As well as speedway, we also want any new stadium to be used for educational and community-related purposes that will benefit local people. “We have a vision and a plan. We’d love to sit down with the management of the new land owners and talk about working together. We think we would definitely help, not hinder, their planning application.” Mark says he understands that the entire site totals around 129 acres, of which some is taken up by the lake. It’s estimated that would leave around 60 to 65 acres of developable land available to build on – plenty of room for the construction of a data centre employing, say, a few hundred people and a staff car park with an access road. “This is speculation on our part, as the new owners haven’t submitted a planning application yet, but we think we would probably need something like 15 acres for a stadium, track, pits, dressing rooms and car parking. “Wouldn’t it be great – for the land owners, Thurrock Council and ourselves – if it was called the Google Community Stadium? “Obviously, speedway would only be held there up to 35 to 40 days a year, so we’re working with others to develop a ‘community facility’ that can deliver 320-plus days of other community-related activity. Speedway • A near full house at the venue formerly known as the Arena-Essex Raceway, where the Hammers raced for 35 seasons. Picture: GAVIN ELLIS 12 speedway star February 10, 2024
page 13
me the message must engage with the community and add value. “I’d love it to be the south’s equivalent of Belle Vue’s National Speedway Stadium, another purpose-built race track where Team GB and the British Youth Academy could come and have training days. No doubt Coventry will have similar thoughts.” Ambitious? Yes, but why not? No-one can argue that a resumption of speedway in Thurrock wouldn’t go a long way to filling a huge void left in the south-east by the closure of Rye House (in 2018) and Eastbourne (2021), with Mildenhall and Sittingbourne also not expected to run at league level this year. The nearest tracks for Thurrock fans are Ipswich and Oxford, which involve round trips of at least 130 miles and 200 miles respectively. Mark points out that Thurrock Council set its own precedent, and upheld one of its principal policies, when it came to the aid of non-league Aveley FC. They have flourished after their original Mill Field home ground in Mill Road made way for a property development and the local authority approved the club’s move to a new 3,500capacity stadium at Parkside, Belhus Park. “In 2015-16, they were in the Isthmian League getting crowds of just over 100 – and now they’re in National League South and, on average, supported by nearly 500 fans per game,” Mark added. WITHOUT intending to get too far ahead of ourselves, I pressed Mark for more detail around Thurrock Hammers’ ‘vision and plan’. You will have noted that he has so far made no mention of sharing the proposed new stadium with stock-cars – despite ArenaEssex being, for many years under the Chick Woodroffe family regime, a renowned car racing circuit that regularly attracted large Sunday afternoon crowds well in excess of speedway attendances. “I’m sure that the stock-car fraternity is as frustrated as we are with no place to race and it’s clear from social media posts that there is a level of expectation that if motorsport returns, then so would the stocks. The cars have an even longer history than the bikes. “As a dyed in the wool speedway fan, my personal preference is not to include stockcars in the equation but this is not a ‘settled position’. “I’ve been told that the best time to watch speedway at Arena was during the Terry Russell/Ivan Henry era, with their chain-link safety fence, and I think fans love to be close to the racing; I personally regard Redcar’s South Tees Motorsports Park as an example of an ideal place to watch speedway today.” What about the team name? Few agreed with the drastic decision, taken by former Hammers promoter Stuart Douglas in 2007, to abandon the name Arena-Essex, by which it was known since speedway arrived there in 1984, and rebrand the club as Lakeside Hammers. “I was very surprised when Stuart announced it,” Mark admits. “But, then again, I never liked Arena-Essex either. What did the name even mean? “It was the late and much missed Jon Cook, who promoted on behalf of Stuart right up to the end of our last season in 2018, who suggested we call ourselves Thurrock Hammers. He said, ‘you’ve got to have Thurrock in there because it makes it clear where you’re from’. Tommy in a motorway service station on the M1. I got his autograph 12 days before he died.” Father of three grown up sons, Mark made his living working in The City in the foreign exchange markets after moving north of the Thames to Essex in 1980. He personally sponsored Arena riders Martin Goodwin and Gary Chessell in the mid-80s and in 1987 was treasurer of the supporters’ club. Work took him to the USA for 11 years between 1991 – “I missed the doublewinning season” – and his return in 2002, after he was made redundant following 9/11 and he immediately resumed his support of the Hammers. “We’ve also dropped claret and sky blue (the colours of football’s Hammers, West Ham United) and reverted to the traditional red, blue and white.” Fair enough, a nod to the original team run by Wally Mawdsley and Peter Thorogood from 1984 and, years earlier, the sport’s famous West Ham Hammers at Custom House. We’re getting way too ahead of ourselves now! But bear with us, let’s keep dreaming of what might be... In its turbulent 35-year history, Arena-Essex had spells in all three divisions, so in which tier do Thurrock Hammers ideally hope to return? “If everything falls into place, the Championship would make most sense. The club had its best years in the middle tier,” Mark recalled. “To operate at that level today, I think we’d need around £400,000 of working capital per season to cover track maintenance work, stadium overheads and riders’ wages but we haven’t completed a full financial analysis yet. We need to clear the planning hurdles first! “Speedway needs real control over the land it races on. This is part of the opportunity we have here.” • Leading the fight: Thurrock Hammers directors Russell Keetch, Mark Sexton and Ian Smalley. Picture: TIFFANI GRAVELING “When he took over from Ronnie Russell, Stuart Douglas bravely gave me carte blanche as firstly an education liaison officer and then commercial manager, both voluntary roles, but the financial crash came in 2008 and it wasn’t a good time for gaining sponsorship.” He then created and managed the hugely successful Community Liaison programme in 2009, which ran until the club’s closure, but his last contribution was to team-manage the side in their final ever fixture at a frozen Derwent Park, Workington on October 31, 2018. Y OU will have gathered that Mark knows his speedway history and has a shrewd handle on the present. Affable and eloquent, he’s a genuine, knowledgeable supporter, not an opportunist vulture hovering with intent. Born and brought up just outside Leatherhead in Surrey, he first saw speedway at Wimbledon in 1973. The Dons became his team; Tommy Jansson his favourite rider. “I went to Coventry to watch Wimbledon on May 8, 1976 and on the way home I saw But Mark – who lives in Braintree and will be 68 in July – is no quitter. With the backing of the speedway family, rest assured that he and his fellow directors will do all they can to convince Thurrock Council that speedway deserves recognition and a future place in the local community. “A lot of effort has gone into this over the past four-and-a-half years and until such times as someone tells us to ‘go away, your ideas are wrong or won’t work’, then we’ll keep going. It’s become a matter of principle.” February 10, 2024 speedway star 13

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B

HAMMERING hom

UOYED by the Coventry campaigners’ recent success in persuading Rugby Borough Council to block plans to build new homes at Brandon, the men behind the bid to restore speedway to Thurrock in Essex now hope supporters will help turn their dream into reality.

In some respects, Thurrock Hammers Ltd face less obstacles than the Save Coventry Speedway and Stox group, who anxiously await the next move from owners Brandon Estates.

The site, vacated very much against their will by the Lakeside Hammers team before the end of the 2018 season, is no longer in the hands of residential property developers London Strategic Land Partners Ltd (LSL), the company that originally bought the land from the former stock-car-promoting family for more than £16 million. After five years and for reasons unexplained, LSL subsequently withdrew their plans and sold the land on last July for a hefty profit.

The new owner of the Arena-Essex site is Global Infrastructure (UK) Ltd, a subsidiary of tech giants Google. And early indications are that the American search engine company propose to build a data centre on the land adjacent to the M25 motorway, as they are proposing to do at another Essex location in North Weald. This would surely remove possible objections by them, purely on grounds of noise and nuisance, to sharing a relatively small parcel of their land with a neighbouring speedway club that raced there for 35 seasons.

Mark Sexton, one of the three Thurrock Hammers directors, along with Russell Keetch and Ian Smalley, explained the current state of play and how supporters all over the UK, as well as local Hammers fans, can help persuade Thurrock Council that the Hammers are a valued community asset and should feature in future developments at the site.

Mark told Speedway Star: “After prolonged lobbying, the full Thurrock Council unanimously passed a resolution on January 25, 2023 to protect and include speedway in its Local Plan process.

“It therefore came as a matter of considerable surprise and disappointment to find no mention of speedway at the ArenaEssex site, or elsewhere in Thurrock, when the council published its Initial Proposals (Regulation 18) document as part of the Local Plan process in mid-December, 2023.

“In the light of what might be described as the Council Planning Department’s statement of intent, this was a matter of major concern.

“We believe that national and Thurrock

TONY McDONALD on a ‘call to action’ by the men behind the Thurrock revival bid

Council policies are in place for the ongoing protection of sporting facilities at risk from development and MUST be applied for speedway as part of any scheme for the development of the Arena-Essex site.

“Our position is that the correct application of these policies means that a speedway track and associated facilities should be a requirement for any planning permission for the development of the ArenaEssex site. The Initial Local Plan Proposals (Regulation 18) document is part of a statutory consultation process and the current consultation period gives us an opportunity to make the case for speedway’s inclusion.

“The Hammers’ campaign team is in the process of doing exactly that and expect to timetable a meeting with a former leader of the Council and Thurrock Council’s Head of Place shortly.

“The consultation process, which began on December 18, 2023, will conclude on February 19, 2024.

“This is the time for supporters to register their views and work with us to try to ensure that speedway’s future is secure in Thurrock. As part of the consultation process, it is vital that they let their views be known.

“Our call to action is to suggest that people email localplan@thurrock.gov.uk when, in addition to making personal and straightforward expressions of interest that we all share, it is vital for fans to put the point in planning terms.”

If any fans are unsure how to express their support, they can refer to handy suggestions listed on the speedway club’s website at www.thurrockhammers.com under the news heading ‘A call to action to all Hammers and Speedway Supporters’.

M

ARK, his co-directors and their expert advisers, including Brian Connolly who has played a key role in the Coventry campaign, believe that what has transpired at Brandon will prove a positive catalyst for Thurrock, Peterborough and other clubs in their future battles to keep the bikes roaring in the face of bad planning applications, local need and sporting heritage.

“The planning inspector’s decision at Coventry completely validated everything we’ve said all along for the past four years and more,” Mark said. “The decision to block Brandon Estates has turned everything on its head. The attack on speedway has been defeated and we will use this precedent to support the campaign.

“It’s important that Thurrock Council and their various departments are not blinded by the light. It’s up to all of us, collectively, to convince them that speedway is not an unviable, dying sport and that it means a great deal to an awful lot of people, that there is a demand for it.

“When LSL put their planning application in, we believe their consultants tried to convince the council that speedway wasn’t worth bothering with. For example, they tried to justify it by quoting low attendance numbers for 2017 National Development League meetings, not the 2018 Championship (second tier) figures, which were obviously higher. “We see this as a golden opportunity for Thurrock Council to back a very meaningful community scheme. As well as speedway, we also want any new stadium to be used for educational and community-related purposes that will benefit local people.

“We have a vision and a plan. We’d love to sit down with the management of the new land owners and talk about working together. We think we would definitely help, not hinder, their planning application.”

Mark says he understands that the entire site totals around 129 acres, of which some is taken up by the lake. It’s estimated that would leave around 60 to 65 acres of developable land available to build on – plenty of room for the construction of a data centre employing, say, a few hundred people and a staff car park with an access road. “This is speculation on our part, as the new owners haven’t submitted a planning application yet, but we think we would probably need something like 15 acres for a stadium, track, pits, dressing rooms and car parking.

“Wouldn’t it be great – for the land owners, Thurrock Council and ourselves – if it was called the Google Community Stadium?

“Obviously, speedway would only be held there up to 35 to 40 days a year, so we’re working with others to develop a ‘community facility’ that can deliver 320-plus days of other community-related activity. Speedway

• A near full house at the venue formerly known as the Arena-Essex Raceway, where the Hammers raced for 35 seasons. Picture: GAVIN ELLIS

12 speedway star February 10, 2024

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