As you know over the next few years Lincoln rugby will be undergoing major changes, with the move to a new venue, with new facilities. This brief update is to show you what has been done so far and explain what the next stages will be, and how you may be able to help.

 

In November we held an EGM to present more detailed plans to the club. The outcome was an overwhelming 88% of votes from the membership being in favour of relocation. We also split the voting down by section; this showed that all sections of the club were strongly in favour.

 

RELOCATION COMMITTEE

 

We now have a more formalised Relocation Committee. David Cohen, a club member, whose “day time” job is as Area Director of HSBC Bank, has agreed to chair the committee. All sections of the club are represented on the committee, which is sub-divided into six groups as follows:

 

            Finance and Legal                chaired by James Kelsey

            Fund Raising                         chaired by Andy Owen

            Partnerships                          chaired by Phil Cooke

            Sports Development             chaired by Gareth Thomas

            Grounds and Buildings         chaired by Tim Clark

            Communications                   chaired by Dave McGrath

 

We hope that this update will give you an idea of the progress that we have made and the issues that we face.

 

If you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact any member of the Relocation Committee.

 

HOW YOU CAN HELP

 

If you are not already a volunteer at the club then we have a job for you, whether it be a “one off” or longer term, it will never be too demanding a task.

Nearly 40 of you when replying to the relocation questionnaire last year said you could help in some way or other. We will be contacting you again soon to turn this offer into action. Please consider if you can offer time and enthusiasm to a rugby club role. All offers of help are greatly appreciated.

 

LOCATION

 

We have negotiated the purchase of a twenty-acre site off Middle Street in Burton. The purchase is subject to the club obtaining planning permission and matched funding. The contract will also give us an option to purchase a further ten acres at an index-linked price. The land is on the South side of the Old Coach Road. The matter is now in the hands of solicitors. Searches have been completed and revealed no issues.

Below is the location of the site and how to get there via www.streetmap.co.uk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closer map, note the red area denotes the area we are buying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the event that we are unable to obtain planning permission for this site we have identified several alternatives, which are “on hold” at the moment.

 

BUILDING OF THE NEW RUGBY CLUB FACILITIES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have appointed John Roberts Associates and Parkin Gerry Associates to plan and design the facility and to apply for planning permission. We hope to be able to apply for permission within the next few months once we have resolved issues around access to the site, which have been raised by the Highways Authority. The Highways Authority told us initially that access to the proposed location should be no problem; they have now raised serious concerns about our proposed access point and the volume of traffic that will use the club. We have employed a Highways Consultant to help us to overcome these issues. We have also been advised by the Parish Council that a survey conducted by the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership last year, at their request, concluded that the road was safe, that traffic using it was generally driving within the speed limits and that road safety improvements were not needed. We have obtained a copy of this report.

 

We believe that we have now found a way to resolve this problem that will entail moving our proposed entrance southwards. We are advised that the proposed solution will probably be acceptable to local residents and the Highways Authority. It will mean however that we could be faced with a significant unbudgeted cost of up to £250,000 to pay for road improvements, primarily consisting of a right turn lane and lighting.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

FUNDING

 

We have held further discussions with the National Sports Foundation (NSF) and the Rugby Football Union (RFU). We are unable to apply for the matched funding until we have obtained planning permission and secured the land. They have assured us however that money is “earmarked” for the project. There have been two positive changes to the scheme. Firstly the ceiling of £500,000 has been removed; hence if we can find additional funds from private sources we may well able to match these as well. Secondly the NSF has allocated an amount of money to the RFU to administer; hence we are now dealing directly with the area representative from the RFU rather than the NSF. We took the opportunity of a visit to the area by the Chairman and the Chief Executive of the RFU to give them a brief presentation on the project. They were enthusiastic and expressed their support.

 

We can do little to pursue other grants until we have obtained planning permission; we have however identified further potential sources of funds from which we would hope to obtain significant funding. If all of these come to fruition they would amount to some £500,000.

 

CLUB FUNDRAISING (OR WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO!)

 

The fundraising committee have been challenged with a target of £250,000.

We have plans to raise cash from social events and from donations. As an example we hoped to raise at least £10,000 from our Sportsman’s Dinner and Annual Ball in May. The final amount raised from these events was well in excess of this amount.

The club is in the process of applying to become a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC), which will qualify us for gift aid.

Once this has been achieved, and once we have planning permission, we will launch our “buy a brick” and “foundation membership” schemes, from which we hope to raise at least £50,000.

We are in the process of formulating our plans to approach local businesses for support. We are planning sponsorship of changing rooms etc. and would hope to raise at least a further £75,000 in this way. One local business has already promised us £25,000 as well as help with marketing material. Again we will not officially launch these schemes until we have planning permission.

 

SUSTAINABILITY

 

The ongoing financial health of the club is vital. The clubhouse will be designed in such a way as to attract other users. A sub-committee is currently seeking other sports clubs and organisations that may want to join us as well as other potential users. We have had numerous expressions of interest from groups as widespread as the Lincoln Knights Rugby League Club and a dance school. Our initial research indicates that we will have little difficulty in attracting widespread use, and hence vital revenue.

 

FINALLY A LOOK AT WHAT COULD BE

 

Below are a few pictures of the site as it is and a map of how the pitches may be laid out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I know it’s just a field (and the weather didn’t help any) but imagine all this space to put our ever expanding teams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the grounds keeper has his work cut out for him!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This map was an original plan so the orientation will change but on the whole this is the number of pitches we will have at our disposal at the new site.