The following message was sent to us by a Brighton Fan.

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True Football and Sports fans,

If I could just take up 5 mins of your time ... otherwise press delete now!

Many of you will know that my footy team Brighton & Hove Albion were made homeless by former directors in the mid 90s and are still battling to gain consent for a new ground in the city - our temporary home is non-league standard and without a permanent home our club will die.

Planning permission was granted by Brighton council for a new community statdium at Falmer and we are currently awaiting John Prescott's decision on a subsequent Public Inquiry which was concluded last year - and went extremely well.

At the 11th hour, an inspector appointed to review a new Local Plan (which provides for the new Stadium) has taken it upon himself to ignore the weight of evidence at the inquiry and the massive local support for the stadium and has sided with the Nimbys in recommending that the stadium is excluded from the Local Plan.

This is a potentially huge blow and all Albion fans are mobilising to make it very clear to John Prescott that the survival of our club is important to the community and to the country. A brief email to John Prescott would be much appreciated if you could find a couple of extra minutes to help us.

Albion fans have a strong track record of battling to save our club, and also are amongst the first to help when others reach their hour of need!

The E-Mail address is:-

planning.general@odpm.gsi.gov.uk

Points that we are making include:-

1. The local plan report does not recognise the very real difficulties of finding a suitable site in the Brighton & Hove area.

2. It does not reflect the overwhelming public support for the stadium project at Falmer and the detailed consultation process that took place prior to selecting the site

The planning application clearly demonstrated:

- the need Brighton & Hove Albion have for a new stadium

- evidence of the national importance of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club

- the huge number of jobs and opportunities for education and skills training that would be provided by the proposed development

- an innovative sustainable transport scheme

- that the site at Falmer had the least impact of any of the very few potential sites for a stadium in the Brighton & Hove area

Additional info is available at:-
http://www.seagulls.co.uk
and
http://www.northstandchat.biz

Our peaceful demonstrations on this will start at Wycombe tomorrow - and will continue at Luton next Tuesday!

Thanks for reading this and hope you can help! Copy me in if you do.

Regards.


CharlesE Porter

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LESS THAN 7 DAYS TO SAVE BRIGHTON

Since the Goldstone Ground was sold from under our feet in 1995, Brighton fans have been battling for a new stadium. Anyone who has been to Withdean will know how desperately we need one.

The plans for a 22,000-seat stadium at Falmer, on the edge of Brighton, are now with John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, who will make the final decision. However, on 4th February, a report by a planning inspector into the local development plan for the city recommended that this site should not be allocated for a community stadium.

This is extremely unhelpful, to say the least, but we believe the report ignores much of the evidence at the recent public inquiry and the Deputy Prime Minister should afford it little weight when he makes up his mind.

We don’t know when we will hear the Mr Prescott’s decision. It could be as little as seven days’ time, but if it goes against us then Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club is doomed.

We cannot stay at Withdean (which is for temporary use only and very inadequate - capacity 7,000) and there is no other viable site apart from Falmer. Even if there was, we cannot afford another planning application - the present one has cost £2.5 million. The club will die. It might be quick or it might be slow, but it will die.

What we are asking fans of ALL clubs for is this.

PLEASE either write a letter to the Deputy Prime Minister or send an email AS A MATTER OF URGENCY. PLEASE DO THIS NOW.

We need to get over to Mr Prescott that a new home for Brighton & Hove Albion, as part of a nationwide league of clubs playing the national sport, is a matter of national importance - especially as the Brighton urban area is the 10th largest in England and Wales (1991 census).

So, the points to make are as follows (you can cut and paste this bit):

Dear Deputy Prime Minister

I am writing to urge you to approve the plans for a community stadium at Falmer, Brighton.

I believe you should do this for the following reasons:

1. Brighton & Hove is a city of national importance and its football club is important as part of the national league competitions in our national sport. 2. The evidence shows that the site identified by the city council at Falmer is the only viable one for a community stadium in a city hemmed in by the South Downs and the sea. 3. A community stadium is essential for the well-being of any town or city. It brings communities together, provides opportunities in sport, education and employment, and enables the local football club to fulfil its potential within the community for the benefit of all.

Please approve the plans for Brighton & Hove's community stadium. If you do not, you will be condemning a proud football club to death and depriving a city and a county of facilities which should be the right of every community across the country.

Yours sincerely

etc etc

PLEASE BE SURE TO ADD YOUR NAME AND POSTAL ADDRESS whether on a letter or an email. You might also like to add which team you support. Then the Deputy Prime Minister will understand that this is an issue for people all over the country.

You can of course embellish the above points with any you wish to make, but it is essential that you send something if you ever want to come and see football by the seaside again.

Letters should be sent to:

Rt Hon John Prescott MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Cabinet Office
Whitehall
London SW1A 2AS

Emails should be sent to planning.general@odpm.gsi.gov.uk

Letters on headed paper would be especially welcome from football clubs, supporters’ clubs, ISAs, trusts, etc.

Thank you for your help. Please pass information about this website www.ClubsInCrisis.com to as may people as possible.