Bath Rugby’s new stadium at The Rec looks likely to have to be built on the club’s current footprint there, after a tribunal vetoed plans to give it extra land.
The independent panel has overturned a key proposal agreed by the Charity Commission to allow the club a bigger share of The Rec to develop the best possible new arena for the 21st century.
Instead the panel – established after official objections to the commission’s “scheme” to redraw the rules of the charitable arrangements affecting the city centre green lung – has ruled that only the land currently occupied by the club can be used.
This means the land occupied by its permanent stands and the seasonal temporary East Stand.
The decision has been greeted with dismay by the Recreation Ground Trust, which had been confident that the plans it agreed with the commission would stand up to outside scrutiny.
It is now considering an appeal of its own, amid concern that its hopes of greater income from a new expanded lease with the rugby club could be dashed.
The club was being told of the news today, as it fine-tunes its proposals for a 16,000-capacity stadium.
It is the latest twist in a torturous saga that traces its roots back to the granting of a covenant for use of the land in 1956.
The club has been trying to find a way to update its jaded facilities at The Rec since a High Court ruling in 2002 confirmed the land as having charitable status.
The Charity Tribunal (Lower) heard evidence from local resident objectors at public hearings.
A statement from the trust – a body made up of councillors and community representatives which oversees The Rec – said it was surprised at the boundary changes.
“The trustees worked with the commission to support the 2013 scheme at the tribunal. These changes to boundaries were not discussed at the tribunal and are potentially harmful to the trust. The changes appear to risk significantly limiting future development and improvement of the rugby stadium.
“The trustees want to maximise the use of the Recreation Ground and look to the future. They also want to be able to take forward key aspects of what has previously been subject to public consultation in 2011 in the run-up to the creation of the 2013 scheme.
“The trustees will now look closely at the legal options which include appeal.”
It added: “The trust will want to work closely with the council and Bath Rugby to obtain information to help it develop plans for the future. It will separately decide if any further legal action is in the interests of the trust and its beneficiaries.”
Another development from the tribunal is a ruling that the trust can no longer be chaired by a BNES councillor, meaning that Councillor David Dixon will have to step down from that role sooner than intended.
Today Mr Dixon, deputy leader of the council, said: “I am extremely disappointed by the restriction that the tribunal has at this 11th hour placed on the trust’s ability to seek the best deal possible for the charity. The tribunal’s decision has drastically limited what can be achieved and I do not accept that the final result is in the best interests of the charity.”
But he added: “I see no reason that we can not make the project with Bath Rugby work, this is integral in the future success of furthering our charitable objectives.
“We all have one common goal in mind, to increase participation in amateur sports and recreation and I know that we will find a way forward from here.”
Tribunal rules that Bath Rugby can"t have extra land at The Rec for new stadium
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