FROM the outset let me quite clear - I am not against the prospect of Worcester City Football Club moving to a new stadium at Spetchley - but before the media hype reaches totally unacceptable heights, it is worth remembering that while presented as a single issue matter, it is in fact far more than that.
To support the joint football stadium and B&Q bid is to seek to overturn a key element in the Worcester City Local Plan - namely that the area has been zoned to accept the recreational aspects of the package, but quite emphatically not the out-of-town retail elements.
If the retail store wishes to sponsor local football then all to the good - but this bid seeks to seriously undermine local planning policies through cleverly marketed leverage and the consequences of allowing planning to be determined by cash rather than policy are dangerous and far reaching.
It may be coincidence, but the same danger is emerging in St John's over the Christopher Whitehead School and if either of these were to be allowed we could witness the erosion of local planning credibility, the consequences of which do not bear thinking about.
DR MALCOLM NIXON,
Worcester.
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