Club for sale

Offers are invited for the The Lord Nuffield Club, formerly the Morris Motors Athletics and Social Club, originally founded some 80 years ago to keep Cowley car workers fit and agile.

The 30,000 square foot clubhouse, completed just two years ago, in Barracks Lane at a cost of £4.5m, forms Lot 1 of the sale. Lot 2 is the bowling green and Lot 3 is the playing field, both of which are advertised by agents as for existing use or for development (subject to planning permission). The whole estate now up for sale totals 4.63 acres. But what surprises former members of the working men’s club, founded by Lord Nuffield in the 1920s to keep Cowley workers fit, is that apparently no one has made any money out of this parcel of real estate.

Former secretary of the club Michael Kelly said: “The deal was that the developer, Eddie Costello of Chesside Homes, would receive land from us to develop land around the club. In return he would build a new clubhouse for us. Unfortunately, Oxford planners required a very large social housing committment.” And Mr Kelly claims that nobody, certainly not the local MP, Andrew Smith, would help.

Eddie Costello describes the development as financially the worst he had ever done. Itinvolved a Phase 1 consisting of 23 flats and six houses, and a Phase 2 of 18 flats and 11 houses. Of this, 17 units (30 per cent) were for social housing, on which he says he could not make “a single penny”. Thanks to the recession, Mr Costello says, he has been able to sell only one of the units in phase 1, forcing him to put the rest up for rent.

He sold most of phase 2 (in some cases for £250,000, compared to an original asking price of over £300,000), but eight of the 11 houses were social housing, on which he made nothing.

He told The Oxford Times: “Two things seem unfair here. Firstly, Michael Kelly and the club committee, who were giving their time voluntarily and working for nothing, received no help whatsoever from the MP when applying for grants from Sport England and from the Lottery — even though they wanted to selflessly do something to help the community.

“Secondly, in any other borough we would not have had to hand over the land for the social housing for nothing, worth about £1.5m, to the housing association. If that had not been a condition of the planning permission, the club could have had an extra £1.5m, which could have saved it.

“Politicians at all levels made encouraging noises but never came up with help — such as offering to decrease the amount of social housing demanded. Mr Smith said he would help, but did little or nothing.”

He added: “What is unfortunate is that I was away in Ireland when the club went into receivership. If I had been here I would have advanced money to save it, like I did last time the receivers came in in 2007.”

Asked whether infighting between committee members was not the prime cause of the club’s failure, Mr Costello said: “It was terrible and I think it cost the club about £200,000 in legal fees.

“But in spite of that the committee under Mr Kelly, who won their case in court, persevered with the project.”

The infighting dates back to February 2004, when the club’s committee sacked its chairman, Tom Doliamie, following a dispute about the size of the proposed new club house.

Later that year a court decided that his sacking had been illegal and Mr Doliamie, returning victorious, in turn sacked the entire committee and sued them for delaying the development.

Matters were further complicated when Mr Doliamie was declared bankrupt and stepped down as chairman.

Mr Smith, MP for Oxford East, told The Oxford Times: “I have strongly supported the club and believe the facilities they offer are important to Cowley, local people, and the groups using the space there. I gave a lot of help to the club over VAT problems they faced in getting the club built.

“More recently I took up their plight with the city council and contacted their electricity supplier over a mix-up on their bill.

“The club wanted to develop a further part of the site, but the problem is that they have already developed the maximum allowable under the local plan, and no planning application has been submitted.

“I understand that the latest position is that there are discussions with Fusion – who run the city’s leisure facilities – about the possiblity of them taking over and operating the facilities. I stand ready to do anything I can to help with this or anything else which can safeguard the facilities for local people.”

He added: “The club’s plight is particularly disappointing after we all hoped it had turned the corner after the previous disputes within the committee and court actions, and after their success in getting the new buildings built.”

Mr Jeremy Willmont of the club’s receivers, Moore Stephens, said he been appointed by the Derbyshire Building Society, which held a mortgage on the clubhouse. He said the club had debts in excess of £2m.

Steve Coggins, regional development director of A2Dominion, said: “A2Dominion developed six flats for shared ownership (part-buy, part-rent) and 11 houses and flats for low-cost rent in 2008/09. The prices for these ranged from £71,000 to £74,000 for a 40 per cent share of a two-bedroom home.

“These were built at a cost of around £110,000 to £137,000 each. In addition to these build costs, we also paid for the legal fees, building consultants and interest payments, which increased our overall costs.

“As a not-for-profit organisation, any surplus we make from our activities are ploughed back into creating even more affordable homes for people in housing need.

“While we appreciate that some of the interested parties may be disappointed by their financial returns from the development, A2Dominion had no dealings in the agreements that had been made.”

Certainly the whole sorry saga that has led to the For Sale signs going up provides a rare insight into the world of property developers.

Mr Kelly said: “Many former members think that if there is a surplus after the clubhouse is sold they will receive a share.

“The truth is, though, that under the constitution of the club any money over would go to charity.”

In the meantime, who will buy one clubhouse, slightly used, and complete with such amenities as a gym, rifle range, two squash courts, a fitness studio, a ballroom and bar, not to mention a two-bedroom flat?

Neither Oxford City Council nor the charity Fusion was available to comment on the possibility of Fusion taking over the clubhouse.