1,500 people say farewell to Oxford Greyhound Stadium tonight (From Oxford Mail)

Didn't realise planning permission had already been given??? Thought it was still up for consultation.

Was this always the plan of the GRA when kicking out Speedway?

It has always been the plan to close it. I attended an open meeting back in June where they showed full plans for all the new homes to be built and the new road layout. They don't spend that amount of time and money for nothing!
Most people who attended objected to the plans, but we knew a decision had already been made.

RIP

I wonder who on the planning application committees had their turkey paid for this year by the developers. Yet another 'through the back-door' application and another nail in Oxford's coffin.

Bartsimpson_uk wrote:
Didn't realise planning permission had already been given??? Thought it was still up for consultation.

Yes and No

Looks like the OM has jumped the gun, because according the the leader of the council in an interview last week, he said that planning permission was very unlikely to be granted for housing. This is on record, so unless he was lying, and councillors never do that to us, the stadium should be safe, shouldn't it?

a lot more GRA stadium are under threat, due to low income and increased costs, poor prize funds a self fufilling prophecy.

faatmaan wrote:
a lot more GRA stadium are under threat, due to low income and increased costs, poor prize funds a self fufilling prophecy.

Yeah.....the ££££££makers say the same about pubs.....easy innit....run them down then build houses on the land.....anything for an easy buck aided and abetted by thegreased hands of the council.....shame on them.

Only fools would try to make the owners continue running a loss making race track.
If the blasted place could make money, nobody would want to shut it down.

For a company who by the very nature of their buisness should be doing everything they can to promote greyhound racing the GRA have an excellent track record for closing down stadia.

Sadly, the Oxford Greyhound (and former Speedway) Stadium is yet another casualty of the 'greed and need' paradox which has become Oxford. In the current market, the owners will make more money from selling or developing the 'brown field' site (which I suppose the Stadium represents) for housing, than leaving it as a short-medium term asset liability. This, especially, since the owners of the site have a ready market in the form of Oxford City Council, which continues to try and satiate its housing targets. Maybe the irony of trying to satisfy both social and private housing, is that because of where Oxford is located, and because of the ever-increasing demands from the 'education factories' for more and more student accommodation, uncapped demand will just keep growing. Nor should one necessarily blame 'greedy' developers and the private sector - the more people City Council can attract to Oxford, the greater will become its revenue from both Council Tax and social housing rental income.

Good riddance get rid of this death track and all others like it. Greyhound racing is a barbaric industry and needs to die. Wathamstow, Oxford, who's next? Bring it on!