Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
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by Lib Dem team on 1 July, 2011
The main issue at Stockport’s Full Council last night was whether the Council should put in £20,000 to sponsor Stockport County for the coming season, as a complement to £20,000 already agreed by the Solutions SK board.
I, and the Liberal Democrat group, supported the move.
I make no claims to be a big County fan – I’ve been to a couple of matches at Edgeley Park with the kids, and that’s about the extent of it. Many people are far more passionate about their football than I am. I supported the move for three reasons.
First, it’s a good investment in an important community organisation, and the Council does invest in those all the time. There’s strong evidence that a vibrant Stockport County brings in hundreds of thousands of pounds to Edgeley, Davenport and Cale Green. This is about supporting Stockport County so it can continue to support some of our poorer communities.
Second, a whole host of voluntary organisations benefit from Stockport County being strong – the club does a great deal of work with the community which has real value, and helps sell Stockport far wider than our boundaries.
Finally, for those who do support Stockport County, it’s important not only that the club gets money (and £40,000 can make a difference), but also as a strong message to those interested in investing and supporting the club that Stockport Council is behind it and sees it as an integral part of the town.
I don’t believe that those councillors who opposed the move (which was the Conservatives, Labour, Independent Ratepayers and Independent councillors) did so for anything other than genuine reasons. They believe £20,000 could be better spent elsewhere, and that debate was had last night.
My view is that, just as the Council spends money on its communities and centres (e.g. Christmas lights) to boost trade and support jobs and businesses, so it’s sensible to make this one-off sponsorship to do exactly the same for Stockport County and the areas around Edgleley Park.
The Council decided otherwise last night as the Lib Dems were outvoted.
13 Comments
Good on those other councillors. SCFC – now a non-league club – no one even noticed !
As for Edgeley Park – what an embarrassment – easily the worst ground in English football… tired, delapidated, antiquated, eyesore… pull it down !
Except your motion gave no firm commitment to giving them any money, did it?
I don’t think any councillor from any side of the debate was in the slightest doubt: if the motion passed, the money would be forthcoming, if not then it wouldn’t be.
The whole debate from all sides was about whether or not the £40k sponsorship should happen.
That wasn’t the question, was it? Your motion said you would only give “serious consideration” to sponsorship. I don’t even think there was a mention of £40k in the substantive proposals.
The truth is, Councillor, you could have simply won the vote and then scrapped the idea, behind closed doors and hushed it up.
Are you seriously suggesting that we could possibly, in any way at all, won the vote and then not gone ahead with the money? We’d (rightly) have been crucified by County fans and the media.
After all, you can hardly “hush up” not completing a sponsorship deal: it becomes more than a bit obvious when everyone sees the County strip for the new season and there’s no SMBC logo on it.
No, that was never a possibility. We wanted to do the sponsorship deal, we had the money for that purpose and we just needed a majority of councillors to agree.
So why not put that commitment into your motion? Why did it only say about giving serious consideration to?
That is effectively thinking about it – not doing it. If it was that black and white – why did it not just say what you were going to do?
The motion we put forward was, almost word for word, the same motion Labour proposed last year, so perhaps you should ask them about their choice of wording.
But the fact remains – as all sides acknowledged – that the vote last night was about whether or not we give £40k to sponsor Stockport County and support the communities in Edgeley, Davenport and Cale Green near to the ground. If it had been passed, that would have happened. As the motion fell, it won’t.
re: Johnstone and Roberts… are you the last two SCFC supporters ?
I notice you mention that Solution SK has given £20,000 to Stockport County.
I believe that Solutions SK is wholly owned by the council.
How on earth can they be giving money away without apparent democaratic control?
Who actually decides what Solutions SK gives money to?
The more I hear about this mysterios organisation the more worried I am that they appear to operate as an automomous outfit without proper control by local councillors who at least can be held to account by the electorate.
There’s no mystery about Solutions SK. They are a company, with a board (which includes councillors) and the board voted to contribute to the sponsorship deal (had it gone ahead).
I think the council were short sighted in voting against
the proposed investment. I t could also be argued that
lack of council support over the years (ie finding a
bigger ground, is one of the reasons why County find
themselves in the Blue Square Premier League.
Iain I can see possible benefits as you outlined, however and unfortunately, football is tarnished by the top end greed of PL clubs who make no investment in their own infrastructures and the Football League who enforce no ‘trickle down’ investment to lower leagues. I’m sure County as a club will continue to be supported by their fans and presumably, they will have £20k at least?
Hi Alan,
I don’t think we can solve the sins of Premier League football, but we can put in this relatively small amount to help County and the businesses around Edgeley, Davenport and Cale Green that benefit from it.
We think £40k would have made a significant difference.