New Possibilities for Development at The Mote?
Over the last few weeks, an interesting proposal for a new housing development at The Mote has put the Club’s home for the last forty years back into the spotlight as our potential long-term home.
I have been working on a number of schemes to generate the
sort of facilities befitting a club of our stature since my tenure as
Development Chairman began. The latest opportunity, featuring the playing
fields at
Amid all this doom and gloom, and the inevitable feeling that another opportunity was slipping by, Hillreed Homes recently made a new proposal to Mote CC that would link building some homes on the site to a sporting development. Funds from the development would be ploughed back into the scheme covering a new pavilion, a cricket school and a tennis club with indoor as well as outdoor facilities, joining rugby, cricket and squash on the site.
Seating for at least 7,000 around the cricket pitch is planned with the pavilion, sitting on the bank between the 1st XV pitch, housing a cricket academy as well as changing and social facilities. This would make the ground a first class venue and has the backing of Kent CCC.
This proposal has now progressed to the point where the
scheme has the backing of Maidstone Borough Council, who wants to see a first
class sporting centre in Maidstone that can act as a focus for the whole of
central
The pros of such a scheme are obvious; so what are the cons? The biggest problem in previous discussions about developments at The Mote has been the landlord/tenant relationship between MFC and Mote CC. In essence, if we are to stay at the Mote and help develop the site, we cannot do so under our present lease because any capital investment we make is not recognised in our tenancy agreement. All attempts to change this in the past have faltered because only a tenancy has been on offer.
Without raising expectations too high at this early stage, a
new structure is under discussion which would entail forming a ‘sporting club’
to run all the facilities with responsibility to make sure they are properly
run and maintained. The example of
The timetable for a decision is short – Hillreed will be launching the scheme to the public at Cricket Week – and fully developed plans will be submitted to MBC in September. As a club, we will be called upon to make some important decisions over the next few weeks as our backing is vital to ensure the scheme is successful.
We will have to make some compromises on our playing facilities, which will be reconfigured (see plan), but overall we will gain the improved social and changing facilities we have been craving for so long. I believe this is a breakthrough and, with the proviso of the new governing structure being put in place, is something that can be commended to the members.
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