RESIDENTS who live next to the ‘Wembley Stadium’ of motor racing slammed the crumbling wreck – and travellers who loot it for scrap.
Brandon Stadium, in Warwickshire, was the proud home of Coventry’s Speedway before it was shut down in 2016 and “left to rot”.
Now, locals living nearby are fuming the site has been abandoned and sits at the mercy of vandals who ravage it for metal and cables.
Owners, Brandon Estates, had applied for planning permission to use the area for new homes, but no progress has been made so far.
Now it is in a shocking state. There have been major cases of arson and parts of the grandstand have been burnt through
Jeff Davies
Disgruntled resident Bill Fisher, 76, said: “I moved here to be close to the track and I can’t believe what we’ve been through since the owners stopped the speedway and left it to rot.
“Every day there is someone in there trying to smash it up. We had travellers come along and take all the cables out. They stayed a while.
“Now general vandals have taken it over and it’s heartbreaking to see. We used to get thousands come down every week and given the number of tracks that have closed, this could be a goldmine.
“But we are told it is either houses or a lorry park. Local people are not being listened to.”
Meanwhile, beauty therapist Anna-Renate Kerins, 72, agreed it was much better when the speedway was on.
She said: “It is sad for the community. Back in the day the speedway was a big part of family life. It was a big night out.
“It was good for local business because everyone would want chips.
“I remember us all sitting in the garden listening to the roars and at the end of the night they’d always play Frank Sinatra.
“Now it is derelict for no good reason and we hear intruders all the time and report them.
“It’s quite frightening. All the wires have been cut out and I have heard them smash the huge glass windows in the old grandstand.
“They have tried to burn it down many times. People will hurt themselves in there.
“We just want something beyond vandalism on our doorstep – couldn’t we have a little Centerparcs or some yurts for hire or a pool, some community stuff?”
Another local, Melanie Potter, 59, who works in a horse yard, added: “My father was a stock car driver. They had the Stock cars on the first Saturday of every month and the rest were speedway.
“This was the best stadium in the country. Since then, we’ve had travellers breaking in a couple of times and the owners not caring what state it gets into.”
The 2,000-seater stadium opened in 1928 and played host to British Speedway Finals, World Stock Car Finals as well as greyhound racing.
Its record attendance was 24,000 on a Thursday night in 1954 for the ‘Brandonapolis’ event which attracted the world’s best riders.
Jeff Davies, 74, of the Save Coventry Speedway and Stocks Campaign Group, added: “It was the Wembley Stadium of the stock car racing world and a great place for social interaction. I met my wife at the speedway.
“Now it is in a shocking state. There have been major cases of arson and parts of the grandstand have been burnt through.”
It is a disgrace what has happened and they don’t seem capable of getting it sorted
Phyllis Trickett
And nearby resident Diane Hodgetts, 76, said: “It is dangerous for kids to be in there and that’s a major concern for me.
“They are always starting fires and it’s only a matter of time before something really bad happens.”
The last event at the Stadium was on November 5 2016.
Its previous owner Avtar Sandhu was forced to sell to cover debts in other businesses and the buyers, Investin, set up Brandon Estates with the aim of turning it into a housing estate.
But plans for first 137 homes, then 124 homes plus a sports pitch met with fierce local opposition.
“It was the biggest response in Rugby Council history,” explained Jeff, “1,490 people objected and only six were in favour.”
Council planners rejected the plans but Brandon Estates appealed to the Secretary of State only to lose a nine-day public inquiry where their appeal was thrown out.
Now, despite interest from third parties who want to restore the Stadium, they appear to be holding out in the hope that housing will prevail.
And for some, the developers’ war of attrition is working.
Roger Hodgetts, 76, who moved in 36 years ago, said: “I have been a speedway fan since 1964. I used to do the car park for them and work the grandstand but I don’t think it’ll come back.
“They might as well build on it. I am sick of kids coming down to smash it up and set fire to it.”
A 70-year-old, who asked not to be named, said: “We’ve had animal rights protests when the greyhound racing was on and then travellers coming in, fires, arson, we’ve had enough.
“We would like to see the area looked after and the only way is to put houses on it.”
A 40-year-old mum, who also lived nearby, said: “I don’t want speedway back but we need something doing. Our garden is always flooding and the bushes and trees from the old stadium grow in on us.
“We see people on motorbikes in there all the time.”
Locals said the owners now send in workmen most Sundays to repair the most recent damage.
But they were mostly deeply upset at what they’d been forced to live next to.
Phyllis Trickett, 92, moved to Speedway Lane as a five year old and is still there.
She said: “It is a disgrace what has happened and they don’t seem capable of getting it sorted.
“The owners want houses, the Council says no and we get left with an eyesore.”
Des Taylor, 85, who has lived on the Lane for decades with wife Elaine, 87, said: “I think the Council should take it off the people who own it. The locals all want the speedway back.
“It has been bought by people determined to make money from houses and they have not looked after it. They have wrecked it.”
A LOCAL planning authority, or LPA, may serve a notice under section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, TCPA, where the condition of land or buildings adversely affects the amenity of an area.
The section 215 notice requires the owner or occupier of the land to clean up the land or deal with the poor state of a building.
It can require a wide range of works to be carried out including clearance, demolition, re-building, external repairs.
Failure to comply can lead to prosecution in the Magistrates’ Court and a maximum fine of £1,000.
Further prosecutions can follow, with fines imposed on a daily basis.
If the notice isn’t complied with, the LPA has the power to enter the land and carry out the work themselves, charging the owner of the land for the costs involved.
