The Madness of Mildenhall.... Tiddlywinks and greyhounds, anyone?

For our midweek article we hand the pages over to Manuela Stento, her off of FORDS and bucket shaking everywhere, and one of the main protagonists behind the Mildenhall petition.

A quiet scene at Mildenhall....

Save Mildenhall Stadium! screams the headline. Track under threat of closure because of complaints from the neighbours! Yet another one, you think. We’re so used to our tracks being under threat from developers, complaints and the HSE that ask the average racing fan to list them and chances are they’ll miss some. But this is different. Very, very different – and the difference is why you really should sit up and take notice.


Background

In brief, the track’s been there since 1974, taken over by Ron and Dave Coventry (RDC Promotions) in 1993 after a short but critical break in racing. The track has planning permission and has always kept within its conditions of operation. It sits under the landing path of RAF Mildenhall, one of the busiest air bases in Europe a mile or so away. In 2006 a couple bought the house nearest the track, around a third of a mile away as the crow flies, the only house beyond the stadium on that road which becomes impassable by car shortly after. This means there is no other way to the house than past the stadium entrance, another crucial fact.

Those quiet B52's.....

And tonight's main event, the Tiddlywinks Consolation!

The Olympic Stadium isn't safe from noise abatement

The couple immediately began making complaints about noise from the track, claiming they bought the house unaware it was there. The estate agent who sold them the house and its previous owners have both made sworn statements that they were made aware of the track and its activities. RDC spent £70,000 on that lovely fence to help reduce noise. It’s also worth noting that in 30 years there have been no other complaints. In the meantime, the couple moved out of the house and it stood empty. It was destroyed by fire in 2010. Nevertheless, the couple took the case to court, seeking an injunction, and in 2011 they got it. A stay of execution was granted pending RDC’s appeal, which they won in March 2012.

But the pair took a counter-appeal to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land. After a two day hearing last November, the judgement handed down on 26th February 2014 by five eminent Judges unanimously went in the couple’s favour. These are the facts, as they say, and they are undisputed.

Now, it gets a little bit more subjective and a whole lot more interesting. The restrictions of the 2011 injunction were, in Dave Coventry’s words, “so severe that we wouldn’t be able to stage anything other than the quietest of things like tiddlywinks and greyhounds” hence the title of this piece. The case goes back to the original judge in May, when even if the injunction can be lifted the 7 figure costs could sink RDC anyway. It seems Mildenhall Stadium, RDC Promotions, and the Fen Tigers speedway, are doomed. All for one couple who don’t even live there any more. How can this be?

Legal technicalities: Coming to a nuisance, prescriptive right and planning permission

How indeed can this be? Surely the couple knew the stadium was there first and should have done their research properly? Surely a race track can’t be shut down for the sake of one complaint, when all other local residents and businesses support it? That, I’m afraid, is how the law stands. Google “coming to a nuisance” and you’ll find articles beginning “As every law student knows …” and continuing that it makes no difference if you come to the nuisance, you’re still entitled to live without nuisance. Sounds good. Until you come to a case like this one. Oh, and the children of Barlby Primary who can’t play ball games any more. And the people of Bromham who no longer have a bottle bank. How about the free range chicken farm faced with closure after a neighbour moved in 2 years ago and started to make complaints?

Prescriptive right means that if you can prove your activities have been causing a nuisance for 20 years, you have the right to carry on. Bear in mind you must prove that you’ve been causing a nuisance – proving you’ve been doing the activity is not enough. Mildenhall, 14 years continuous use before the complaint – that’s where that break in 1991 comes in. Chicken farm – 10 years before the complaint. West Ham will be moving into their new stadium in 2015, so they won’t have prescriptive right until 2035. You’d think having planning permission would allow you to carry on, but apparently planning permission cannot give you the right to be a nuisance. So what, exactly, are planning restrictions for?

Implications

It should already be clear that this judgement doesn’t just affect Mildenhall, and it doesn’t affect just motor racing. This is a devastating blow to chicken farms, schools and bottle banks. It’s going to affect everyone who makes a noise – music venues and pubs, football, rugby and cricket grounds, animal shelters and dog breeders, car repairers, distribution centres and haulage firms, and even church bells. Take it a step further and racers’ yards could be in trouble, as could the budget racer working on his car on his own driveway. Nothing and nobody is safe.

But there’s another whole level of issues, one which should be of grave concern to the Government. Who, in their right mind, will want to invest in building a new leisure facility or job-creating business in a country where they have no protection from this farcical law? Armed with planning permission and welcomed by the neighbours, thinking you’re safe, and then one house sale signals the end of it all. You’re left with a worthless piece of land where nobody else can build anything for fear of that one NIMBY, not even a children’s playground.

Ron and Dave Coventry bought Mildenhall in 2008, achieving their childhood dream. The announcement was greeted with enthusiasm in racing circles, as this would secure its future for racing. Shelby Coventry, born just a few weeks before this news was announced, had her whole future laid out in front of her. This couple is taking it away from her, backed by a law that makes no sense.

The law is wrong, and it needs to change.

The next step – because it’s not over yet!

A petition has been launched asking Parliament to intervene in this case but more importantly to change the law of nuisance. This must never be allowed to happen again. Of course people should still have the right to object if a new track is proposed at the bottom of their garden – but if the track was already there when they bought the house, they should accept it and not be able to get it shut down. Parliament makes the law, so it’s the only place left to go when the highest court in the land has spoken. Please see the RDC website for details of meetings where you can sign the paper version. If you can’t make it, there’s an online version too.

YOU CAN HELP by taking copies of the petition to collect signatures yourself, or collecting signatures at Mildenhall and Dover. Remember this is not just about racing so family, friends, customers, business associates and people who share other hobbies with you are also encouraged to give their support. For details please ring 01268 412299 (ideally 9.30am to 12.30pm Monday to Friday) or e-mail wastedmc@btopenworld.com

JUNIORS are now also encouraged to help by writing to Mildenhall MP Matthew Hancock and their own MP, as they can’t sign the petition itself, and full details on how to do this are on the RDC website dedicated petition page http://www.steamin.in/RDC/Petition.htm

Together, we can save the world.