Football boss attacks "anti-anything" Marlow charity (From This Is Local London)

Football boss attacks "anti-anything" Marlow charity

11:00am Thursday 5th November 2009 in News By Lawrence Dunhill

Marlow FC youth players appeal for more pitches on Saturday

A FOOTBALL boss has hit out at The Marlow Society over its opposition to plans for a new stadium - saying it is “anti-anything”.

Ray Frith, director of Marlow FC, called the society a “self-appointed arbiter of what should and shouldn't be built” in the town - stoking the debate over the club's plan for a new stadium on Green Belt land.

Marlow FC has struck a deal with sponsors North West Estates, which will build a new stadium at Little Marlow gravel pits if the current Oak Tree Road ground can be developed into 93 new homes.

The Marlow Society has opposed both plans and a public inquiry will be held in January after Wycombe District Council refused them and North West Estates appealed.

Mr Frith said: “I couldn't care less about the Marlow Society – they want everything to be done their way. I don't like them and they are no friends of Marlow Football Club.

“We are doing this for the local community at no cost to the council. Some people have got such a blinkered approach.

“The site at Little Marlow has had lots of travellers on it so what would people rather have. They are disused gravel pits that are ripe for development.

“I don't think people understand the plans and don't appreciate what could happen – the planning and community officers at Wycombe District Council said themselves that these are very special circumstances.”

Officers at the council had recommended the plans for approval but the planning committee refused the proposals after an outcry from residents and conservation groups.

Hundreds of young footballers turned out at Marlow Sports Club on Saturday to support the stadium bid.

The message from the club's 500-plus youth players was “we need more pitches”, as most of them currently have to travel to Wycombe, Henley or Bourne End for midweek training.

The Marlow Society – a charity devoted to the preservation and development of the town - is fighting both the stadium and housing development plans.

Chairman Ron Waters reacted to Mr Frith's comments: “What a load of rubbish – we represent our members and we are perfectly entitled to an opinion.

“We have six or seven hundred members – that's more than the football club.

“We are not anti-everything but what we are against is the breaking of established planning policies.”

The new facilities at Little Marlow would include a floodlit 264-seat stadium along with two extra pitches - one floodlit all-weather surface and another unlit grass pitch.

Little Marlow Parish Council has opposed the stadium plan, as has the Marlow Gravel Pits Community Partnership.