On Wednesday, September 23, a proposal will be debated at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. This important proposal is to decide whether Basron will be successful in obtaining approval to build a care home on the Camrose football ground site on Winchester Road.

It is my contention that any councillor who does not vote against this proposal should switch off their Zoom and go and type their resignation as a councillor. This is a decision about values. A decision about decent moral values against pure greed.

To all intents and purposes the Camrose ground is a memorial ground. It was given to the people of Basingstoke in recognition of the contribution and suffering the Basingstoke people had to endure during the war.

In the post war period the country endured acute austerity with food rationing until 1954. The covenant given by Lord Camrose was handed to two aldermen who were both councillors; Woods and Spurling. This was in 1948 and was to last 100 years. It was extended in 1953 hence it is due to run out in 2053.

As well as being aldermen, Woods and Spurling were trustees of Basingstoke Town Football Club. It is this bit of detail that Rafi Razzak and his legal team have latched onto to try and get approval to develop the Camrose.

It is a moral absurdity of course. However when it comes to money and greed these little moral details go out the window. To most people’s disbelief this proposal is still being considered. Not only that, we have a council which are recommending it should be accepted. Of course, should we be surprised? 

Any council that can award a multi-million development contract to a company which had been struck off by Companies House as at Chineham Shopping Centre is capable of anything.

Next week’s debate sees the protesters given four minutes. Four minutes you might say - is that each? No. It is four minutes to be shared by all the protesters. I suppose some would say that is Basingstoke democracy in action. It is a democracy which has deprived myself of any sort of representation from any councillor.

The council own a chunk of the Camrose ground (29%) at the Mansfield Road side of the ground. The stand there was built in the 1950/60 era and it is still there. The council has done nothing to upgrade it and it should have been removed years ago.

So around 60 years of wanton neglect by a council which claims to promote sport for the people of Basingstoke. We have a football club playing at Winchester awaiting completion of the ludicrous attempt to upgrade the Hampshire FA site at Winklebury. The council as part of a collaboration accepted a £250K enhancement at Winklebury in 2017. The costs have reached £600K and probably still going up as the club strive to upgrade the ground. Plans for Winklebury were drawn up amazingly by the Camrose developer; all part of the Camrose scandal.

The people of Basingstoke deserve better than this. They have given their verdict through the excellent work of the young editor and reporters from The Gazette. Their work led to petitions signed by 2,500 people with a slogan ‘Save the Camrose – No to Winklebury’.

The care home proposal has no support whatsoever from the Basingstoke public and if the Councillors are worth their salt they should reflect that. Local MP Maria Miller has led the way by saying a one for one replacement football ground is required if the Camrose is to be built on.

Sport England and the Football Foundation are scathing of former club owner Rafi Razzak and his Basron partner Malcolm McPhail. The Basingstoke Town ex footballers (around 300) are upset. The local residents and the adjacent councillors to the Camrose have objected. The football world outside Basingstoke are both saddened and appalled with this scandal.

The argument about the covenant is almost certainly lost for Rafi Razzak. The interpretation from solicitors out of town is very different from the verdict of Razzak’s legal team. In essence. I believe the covenant belongs to the club that represents Basingstoke Town.

They can play at the Camrose and be protected by the covenant lease. Rafi Razzak is owner of Basingstoke Town Ltd. He took his club to Winchester in August 2019. There he transferred the License for the FA – Southern League membership to the Basingstoke Town Community Club Ltd having evicted them from the Camrose.

Hence Basingstoke Town Community Club Ltd. are the rightful owners of the covenant. That is recognised by the FA and Southern League. When Razzak realised that things were not going well during the winter and the Community Club may want to return to the Camrose he re-seeded the pitch and destroyed it.

Sport is important and the council should recognise that. Their handling of the ice rink and Camrose issue’s show how out of touch they are. 

Next Thursday they can take just one small step to regain some credibility by totally rejecting the care home proposal.

David Graham, Mallard Close, Kempshott.