Auction of the community block

[mrpotatohead]

When the community block and pitches go to auction, will the Bond group, be in a position or have the appetite to bid on them, securing them for the club, given the fact that the lockdown must be effecting them massively, and their investment in both MFC and Worcester must now be costing them big time.

[Gone_Shrimping]

I thought the administrators had accepted an offer for PMG Leisure a couple of months back.

[Andy D]

brilliant time to buy this, you’d get a bargain!

[mrpotatohead]

Guide price 320k

[redrobo]

Would be excellent news if the Community Sports Team could move back in but this time as permanent key holders with no threat of eviction looming over their heads.

[parceldave]

Did Colin & Jason not imply they were only here for 2 yrs and going to concentrate their interests on Worcester after that time ,

[mrpotatohead]

To be fair, they made no secret of the fact they planned on stabilising , improving and then selling the club, hopefully making a few quid, I would say things were heading in the right direction until the pandemic, it's going to be a bumpy ride for a lot of businesses , and football clubs , for the foreseeable future.

[Andy D]

just think if the Community Block hadn’t been built inside the actual football ground itself and for example over the other side of the road overlooking them plastic pitches instead, we could of forgotten all about it.

[marky No.1]

https://bidx1.com/en/en-gb/auction/property/42360

[Gone_Shrimping]

https://bidx1.com/en/en-gb/auction/property/42360

An opportunity for a local Caravan Company to expand , plenty of potential punters living nearby on all the caravan sites and an office overlooking The Globe to entertain clients and customers

[redrobo]

https://bidx1.com/en/en-gb/auction/property/42360

An opportunity for a local Caravan Company to expand , plenty of potential punters living nearby on all the caravan sites and an office overlooking The Globe to entertain clients and customers

Sorry to disagree GS.... but the Community Block and associated pitches have to be made available again for the use by the existing Community Sports Team as it was always intended.

I hope that a deal can be done to save what could be a valuable asset for the CST and the club going forward.

And with due respect to our current owners I do not want to be in a position that they are the key holders. We are already into them big time (and are grateful for their involvement) but the Community Block needs in my opinion to be owned and managed by a local group already preferably with links to our club.

[BerlinWaller]

Times can't be too great for Caravan park owners can they? Missed a sizeable chunk of the season already and the prospects of opening anytime soon look slim. Could the timing be a blessing? If the owners can get the land for a low price due to the current situation, their overall asset will be worth a lot more.

[marky No.1]

Times can't be too great for Caravan park owners can they? Missed a sizeable chunk of the season already and the prospects of opening anytime soon look slim. Could the timing be a blessing? If the owners can get the land for a low price due to the current situation, their overall asset will be worth a lot more.

Parks and tourism should be able to open on 1st July, but who knows. You are right that we have missed a big chunk of the season, but most parks will have received their rents for the season and are seemingly unwilling to give any of it back, but we shall see. It will be the loss of hire and rental trade that will have an impact, but a lot of statics are privately owned so it is the individuals that will suffer.

In reference to Venture, a family member is a Morecambe fan and he says there is a strip of land between the park and the pitches which isnt part of the sale, so direct access is still a problem

[mrpotatohead]

Caravan parks and british resorts generally will have a mini boom at some point once the virus is under control because foreign holidays are going to be off the menu for most people for a long time, it may not be a one horse race, there is a £6000 registration fee for potential bidders.

[Andy D]

Caravan parks and british resorts generally will have a mini boom at some point once the virus is under control because foreign holidays are going to be off the menu for most people for a long time, it may not be a one horse race, there is a £6000 registration fee for potential bidders.

plus you can actually practice good distancing on sites, you can see an increase in caravan sales/rental with more people now looking to Holiday stress free in the UK.

[marky No.1]

you can see an increase in caravan sales/rental with more people now looking to Holiday stress free in the UK.

From 1st July onwards hopefully, bigger parks will have the issue of not opening their swimming pools leisure centres, restaurants, bars and amusement arcades.
As you say there will be loads of people that have been stuck indoors looking at the same wall, chomping at the bit to get into the great outdoors and isolate themselves in their own space

[MFC-Manc]

If someone else won and bought the land... how would they access it? Could Morecambe fc refuse to let people use the road?
I notice that you would have to enter the Berlin Wall via behind the goal.

[KenH]

If someone else won and bought the land... how would they access it? Could Morecambe fc refuse to let people use the road?

Yes, subject to any covenants on the land, whether the road is adopted by the local council, whether there is any established public right of way across the land, etc. then yes, the club or Trust "could" put up gates on the main access road to prevent access.

Likewise with the community block, the club/trust could put up advertising hoardings or build a new wall (on club/trust land) to block the windows overlooking the pitch (again subject to any covenants or legal rights inherent in the "deeds" on the community building which may have been inserted as part of planning permission or whatever - sometimes a "right of light" across someone else's land is inherent in the deeds).

Even if there is an established legal right of way, they can take years to enforce. Eg the Packet Bridge pub car park at Bolton Le Sands is an established right of way, but it's been closed and boarded for a few years now as the legal work to re-open it seems to move at a snail's pace.

Any potential buyer of the pitches/community block would be VERY foolish not to have had the legal situation re access checked out, but as is well known, there are lots of "foolish" people buy property at auctions without doing the due diligence and find themselves in trouble. One has to wonder if the liquidators are hoping that's exactly what happens - i.e. a developer just "assumes" access is fine by assuming the roads around the stadium are public and pays over the odds compared to those who've done the legal work and know of any potential access impediments.

[mrpotatohead]

The caravan park wouldn't need access, they could provide access for a buyer if they dont buy it themselves, money rules, and if someone bought it, I am sure the club would accept a fee from the new owners, there is also access via the car park at the back onto the estate that has a charge on it.

There would be nothing to stop the caravan park buying it , then putting caravans on the pitches and selling or renting the building to us.

[KenH]

The caravan park wouldn't need access, they could provide access for a buyer if they dont buy it themselves.

Not very practical though is it? Having an access road right through their caravan park. They'd need a lot of money to do that given the inconvenience, reduction of pitches and risk of unhappy paying customers having to dodge traffic (initially construction and then delivery vans, homeowners etc assuming residential). I don't really think the caravan park would be interested in providing access. Given the guide price of £300k ish, I can't see them being interested in using it for extra pitches either - the investment payback period would be far too long.

[BerlinWaller]

The land is now on rightmove

[redrobo]

Speaking to an interested party a few months ago they said that in their opinion the 3G pitches were no longer fit for purpose due to neglect over the shut down period over the past few years (no fault of the club or other users) and that to upgrade to 4G would involve further expenditure which could be available through grants subject to whoever takes control.

[KenH]

Can't see anyone seriously wanting to keep the 3g pitches or replace them. There seemed to be little interest from other groups etc when they were in operation. A buyer would need some pretty serious commitments from other groups who wanted to use them. That's not going to be easy as there seems a glut of artificial pitches these days (college, unis, Morecambe High), and with Covid, few, in any, are getting any use.

[Freez]

There is a glut of pitches, Heysham Mossgate, Heysham High, Morecambe High, but then they are all quite popular. Possibly because the College is now closed to all but students in the daytime and the MFC one has closed.
It’s a difficult market to judge, particularly in lockdown.

[marky No.1]

The caravan park wouldn't need access, they could provide access for a buyer if they dont buy it themselves, money rules, and if someone bought it, I am sure the club would accept a fee from the new owners, there is also access via the car park at the back onto the estate that has a charge on it.
There would be nothing to stop the caravan park buying it , then putting caravans on the pitches and selling or renting the building to us.

The caravan park owner has already said , as above, that there is a piece of land between his park and the pitches that doesnt belong to either, so he wouldnt be able to simply open his fence for access