// The conjecture and the facts
Conjecture |
Facts |
| Claim: The proposals will see 200 acres under concrete and the greenbelt will be lost. |
Fact: Total construction on the site will only cover 20% of the entire site. Our plans are for an environmentally sustainable development. |
| Claim: The proposals seek to build 2000 homes. |
Fact: WSDL plan for a maximum of 506 homes, over 100 of which will be affordable housing. |
| Claim: 250 jobs will go from airfield businesses. |
Fact: In the proposals the airpark will be retained and supported to develop further. We don't anticipate any job losses. We expect at least 400 new jobs to be created by the Wycombe Sporting Village. |
| Claim: There is no need for a new stadium. |
Fact: Adams Park is unsustainable as a venue; it incurs costs 365 days a year but only generates significant revenue on approximately 45 of those days. In Wycombe, unemployment is 8.5% and rising; we need new investment and new opportunities. According to the NHS, 21% of adults in Wycombe are obese; we can support healthier lifestyles [1]. |
| Claim: The stadium would be the highest point between Booker and the Ural mountains in Russia. |
Fact: The highest point in the Village will be the peak of the stadium roof. This will be 27 metres off the ground. By comparison, Big Ben stands 96 metres high. The Ural mountains peak at 1,500 metres. |
| Claim: There is no evidence to suggest that the clubs currently bring benefits totalling £7m to the area. |
Fact: An independent report by Savills estimates the current community benefit generated by the clubs as £7.5m. Independent assessment by the accountants Baker Tilly estimates the value of the community benefit achieved by the Village as at least £125m over 25 years. |
| Claim: Council tax-payers will end up footing the bill. |
Fact: WSDL is not seeking to raise any equity investment from Wycombe District Council. Should the proposal go ahead, we estimate that the Sporting Village will generate £500k of income for WDC every year for the next 125 years. |
| Claim: There are only two entrance routes into the development and there would be major traffic problems. |
Fact: WSDL's outline site plan proposes five exit route points and four entrance points. |
[1] In our original reporting of this data we used figures from the most up to date figures available at the time, the APHO 2010 Wycombe Health Profile. This profile indicated that one in four adults in Wycombe were obese and almost one in seven smoked. Updated data has subsequently been released, in the form of the APHO 2011 Wycombe Health profile. This indicating that 21.1% of adults are obese and 20.3% of adults smoke. We have amended our figures accordingly. Both profiles can be viewed at http://www.apho.org.uk/resource/view.aspx?RID=50215&SEARCH=wycombe&SPEAR
