A few comments on your thoughts there.
1. They 100% did go through the proper process.
2. Pre-application consultation is optional. Had they done it it would have just delayed the application process, which in turn would have reduced the financial gain due to the terms of the deal the club struck with their partners. The sum has already dropped due to the delays.
3. The pre-application advice would simply have told them what everyone already knew, that the site is on green space and therefore the application could not be supported by the planning department. That’s something that is incapable of being changed.
4. I fail to see what could have been done that would have stopped Councillor Oldham being against the application and seeking to overturn the initial consent.
5. In terms of ‘recklessness’, filling out a few planning forms and paying a few fees in the hope of getting £3.4m is not reckless. It is valid to criticise years and years of spending in excess of our income which got into this financial black hole, but not to criticise a pretty low risk project that could get us out of it!