Urgent Call to Action: Thurrock Data Centre Consultation

October 23, 2024

We have been working hard to save Speedway in Thurrock since 2019. Occasionally, we need your help and we now have an urgent call for action.

Our campaign to save Speedway in Thurrock is based on local and national policies for the protection of sporting facilities at risk from development. Policies, including national policies, have been successful in defeating the applications to develop the Coventry Stadium and the Peterborough track at the East of England Showground.

A subsidiary of Google bought the Arena Essex site last year and plan to build a data centre on it. A consultation process is under way and Google wants to know what people want to see on the Arena Essex site.

We need to tell them but we don’t have much time as the consultation ends on Monday 4th November 2024!

We welcome this opportunity, but to save Speedway in Thurrock, it is vital that as many people as possible take an active part to make their wishes clear.

We expect you will be as concerned as we were by Google’s description of the Arena Essex site as a ‘former chalk quarry’ without any reference to its Speedway use and history.

Without Speedway’s voice being heard, it will forever be argued that Speedway should be removed from the Arena Essex site and, if it is, that no replacement facilities should be constructed.

Thurrock Hammers has submitted a comprehensive response to the consultation and you can find this here for reference.

You can help us quickly and simply by completing Google’s on-line form by clicking here.

Importantly, just saying ‘we want a track’ won’t work so it is vital that a proper planning and policy basis is set out for retaining Speedway.

Planning and policy points must be included in responses so, to simplify the process, have a look at this short version which we urge you to adapt and copy from the prepared document here (the document is also shown in text form at the bottom of this post for ease)

The most important part is the answer to question 1. This is, in effect, the first step in the planning process and it is vital that proper planning reasons are given to justify Speedway at Arena Essex.

This will make the process easier and should take no more than 15 minutes.

Please include details of your own experience and how you feel about the loss of Speedway in Thurrock and work with us to save Speedway in Thurrock.

Contact us at mark@thurrockhammers.com if you have any questions or any problems in completing your response, and if possible, please do let Mark know once you have submitted.

Many thanks for your support

Thurrock Hammers Ltd

Copy of prepared consultation answers from download to adapt and copy from.

Q1: Do you have any comments on our early proposals for Thurrock Data Centre, including the potential design and layout?

Your answer:

Yes. I agree with the Consultation Response of Thurrock Hammers Limited. I refer to and adopt its contents and the points made in it.

The early proposals for Thurrock Data Centre;

(a) do not comply with the Local Plan

(b) do not comply with local policies:

– CSSP4 – Sustainable Green Belt

– CSTP9 – Well-being: Leisure and Sports

– PMD5 – Open Spaces, Outdoor Sports & Recreational Facilities

– PMD16 – Developer Contributions

(d) are not in accordance with the site’s green belt designation

(e) are not in accordance with the precedent set by the application of national and local policies by Thurrock Council in the case of Aveley Football Club

(f) are not in accordance with the section 106 budget proposed for the planning application made by the previous owner of the Arena Essex site in 2018 (18/01671/FUL)

(g) do not comply with the Coventry Stadium Appeal Decision precedent of 19 January 2024 (ref: APP/E3715/W/23/3322013).

The Arena Essex site had been used for a Speedway track for 35 years since 1984. I regularly attended with family members. I also enjoyed watching the televised meetings of Arena Essex / Lakeside Hammers Teams.

I also refer to the recent example of Peterborough City Council’s Planning and Environmental Protection Committee’s refusal of a planning application to develop the Peterborough Speedway track on 15 October 2024.

Q2: Do you have any information about the local area and local environment which you suggest we consider?

Your answer:

Speedway was the highest quality and best attended spectator sport in Thurrock for 35 years from 1984. Thurrock does not have sufficient sport and leisure facilities.

There is no other Speedway track in Thurrock. Following the closure of the track by the landowner Speedway is sorely missed in Thurrock, throughout the South East, nationally and internationally.

Q3: Do you have any ideas you would like to share about how we could support local community initiatives?

Your answer:

I refer to the Thurrock Hammers Limited Consultation Response.

I am aware that the Speedway club appointed a Community Liaison Manager in 2009 and ran community events for 10 years until the club’s eviction by the landowner in 2018.

Those events focused on supporting educational and charitable objectives, improving inclusion and establishing sporting links.

Google could support Thurrock Hammers to deliver its planned local community initiatives.

Q4: Do you have any thoughts on how our proposals could deliver recreation and amenity improvements in the areas around the lake?

Your answer:

Local and national policies and the Coventry Stadium Appeal Decision of 19 January 2024 (ref: APP/E3715/W/23/3322013) require the Speedway track to be preserved or a new one created.

Any new track as required by the relevant policies and precedent could be located around the lake and satisfy the required amenity improvements and the relevant policy requirements.

Q5: Are you aware of any local organisations or schools that might be interested in partnering with Google?

Your answer:

Thurrock Hammers is interested in partnering with Google to carry on its community work and to deliver new added community value.

Q6: Please leave any further comments or suggestions you have here.

Your answer:

For many years I and thousands of others attended speedway meetings at the Arena Essex site.

I want to see it back.

This consultation response is not just an expression of my wishes but to outline the relevant policy, planning and legal reasons why the scheme being consulted on is not appropriate and should, in my view, be refused and why any scheme which does not preserve and protect Speedway should not be approved.