Battery Project - Chairman's Statement

[Jack Waddington]

Does the council have any plans to fill in for all the activities ICT provide that have just been clubbed to death?

Can't imagine they do...

[ictchris]

We can appeal to the Scottish government and we might well have a case.  That will take a lot longer and cost money though.

In the short run, I think we are highly likely to go into administration.  We make massive losses every year that are written off by directors.  Reading between the lines, it's obvious that these benefactors have said they won't continue doing that so we've pinned our hopes on this project, which was risky due to the potential rejection by the council.  

One thing that I'm a bit puzzled about is that this money was earmarked for other projects to make the club sustainable - I'm not sure if it was ever made clear what these projects are and why they are so dependent on the battery farm.  Do we just need a revenue source?  Is the battery farm somehow linked to the other projects?  Are we confident in our useless board and adminisrators to invest millions of pounds in a sustainable way?

[Satan]

Wonder if the 30 who called it in before the full council are the same 30 who voted to refuse.

[old caley girl]

Gosh that's a morning we will never get back! The standard of debate was awful. 

Will a list of who voted each way be published? 

[Jack Waddington]

Sounds daft but can it be reappealed on grounds of incompetence and not having done their job? Just the grounds of that one balloon rejecting it cos "Kids like sledging there" would imply themselves (and quite possibly others) haven't *actually* taken it into account, as the area in question is by no means suitable for sledging, mainly due to the trees and shrubs, and more importantly A GREAT SODDING WAREHOUSE.

[Yngwie]

Dog walking and sledging are more important than net zero, it’s official!

[STFU]

I think the right decision was made, but it saddens me that it carries with it such dire consequences for ICTFC.

We need to keep in mind that it is not the Highland Council that put ICTFC into the financial position it finds itself, and it would be a dereliction of duty for the planning to have been passed on that basis.

It's time that our CEO, Chairman and Board showed some accountability instead of resorting to the victim mentality we've been subjected to from them the last few years.

They chose to continue spending beyond the clubs means to chase promotion back the Premier League, have failed to achieve that, and have pinned our future on a series of failed initiatives.

Enough is enough.

[Ronaldo]

I do sometimes wonder if going broke might be the best thing to happen to us. We could start all over again with a different name and do things properly and get rid of all the caley/thistle nonsense. It is likely we would get bigger crowds.

[lightlamp2]

7 minutes ago, STFU said:

I think the right decision was made, but it saddens me that it carries with it such dire consequences for ICTFC.

We need to keep in mind that it is not the Highland Council that put ICTFC into the financial position it finds itself, and it would be a dereliction of duty for the planning to have been passed on that basis.

It's time that our CEO, Chairman and Board showed some accountability instead of resorting to the victim mentality we've been subjected to from them the last few years.

They chose to continue spending beyond the clubs means to chase promotion back the Premier League, have failed to achieve that, and have pinned our future on a series of failed initiatives.

Enough is enough.

Are you actually a fan? As I can’t understand any fan of our football club who values 2 percent of a patch of grass over £3.4 Million for the club. 
 

Given you’re such a cheerleader for the council im sure you also support those same councillors approving another hotel in place of the ironworks and spending money on a bridge to nowhere along the River Ness

Edited March 14 by lightlamp2

[+DoofersDad]

I watched the latter half of the "debate".  Thanks, Fraz, for posting the link.  It is a long time since I've watched a Council debate and I have to say that whilst I was not expecting a high standard of debate, I was appalled at just how awful it was.  You get better quality and better informed debate in any pub every day of the week.  The application met all the planning requirements and satisfied the Council's professional planners except for the fact that the site occupied a tiny part of designated green space.  The club argued that the area of the green space concerned was insignificant and that its loss was more than mitigated for by planting which would have increased both biodiversity and carbon capture.

Having said that, it should never have come to this.  No doubt our Chairman and CEO will be raging about the injustice of it all, but the fact is, they concocted a plan which involved siting an industrial development on a site designated as green space in an area where there is no other industrial installation.  Seemingly, they have done this without seeking pre-application guidance from the Council and arrogantly assumed the plan would be accepted.  They also failed to take into account the record the Council has for dreadful planning decisions.  When it seemed the application might not be approved, they then launched an ill conceived campaign focussing on things which were completely irrelevant to the planning application.  They did this in an aggressive and bullying manner and clearly antagonised a lot of people as a result.

If an appeal fails, then the future for our club is grim.  And it is our club, the fans' club. It doesn't belong to the Board. Yet they have recklessly staked the future of our club on a poorly managed development proposal which has nothing to do with football.  You might have thought they would have adopted a more considered and consultative approach following the problems encountered with the Concert Company idea.

Terry Butcher will be a guest of the club on Saturday.  When he left us just over 10 years ago, we were sitting 2nd in the Premiership.  Who then, would have thought we would be where we are now?  What an absolute shambles we are in.

 

[Charles Bannerman]

Unfortunately this is the second non-football money making project that has been floated as a panacea, with no potential pitfalls initially flagged up…. until they suddenly emerged from left field.

There was no indication that the Concert Company could encounter any difficulties…. until it went bust at great cost to the club’s local reputation. And now there’s the Battery Farm that suddenly ran into planning difficulties and we are where we are now.

One of my concerns is that very little was revealed about the BF until the club meeting held the other week in response to the sudden public emergence of planning issues. Now that we know what the planning issues were - and irrespective of anyone’s viewpoint on them - was it not clear from the start that this was a project that could attract planning concerns, so at least came with some uncertainties? And if so why were we told so little about this project until a very late stage?

So now… around two years on from the birth of the Concert Company… the club’s financial security continues to proceed ever deeper into a black hole.

 

Edited March 14 by Charles Bannerman

[McMurdo]

8 minutes ago, lightlamp2 said:

Are you actually a fan? As I can’t understand any fan of our football club who values 2 percent of a patch of grass over £3.4 Million for the club. 
 

Given you’re such a cheerleader for the council im sure you also support those same councillors approving another hotel in place of the ironworks and spending money on a bridge to nowhere along the River Ness

I am a fan and also think it was probably the right decision. Whilst the green space is what ultimately the planning process was concerned with the many 'unknowns' around safety etc are likely to have played a big part in voting intentions. 

Any repercussions from this vote are the fault of our club and the way they have conducted their business. As much as the process highlighted that the Highland Council in general are fairly incompetent they were given a decision to make with so many question marks and ambiguity. 

How many of those up in arms and slamming the decision on social media actually live in what would be an evacuation zone where potential houses would lose value/desirability? 

 

 

 

[Yngwie]

It’s a dark day for us, annd  all the more galling because the application had been approved through the normal process.

We will likely appeal but that costs a lot of money (a KC was mentioned by the club, they cost thousands of pounds per day). And it takes time. And it’s probably 50/50 whether it succeeds.

The time issue means:

1. We need a source of funds to keep us going until the appeal is determined.

2. It will not be resolved before the extended deadline for the annual accounts and going concern statement therein.

3. The appeal will not be determined before the summer, so in terms of setting a wage budget for next season we will likely have to cut our cloth accordingly and assume the worst, which will mean some very difficult and unpleasant decisions having to be made - unless someone comes in to bankroll us, but the indications are that we’ve squeezed what we can from the current directors.

 

[wilsywilsy]

1 hour ago, lightlamp2 said:

Duncan Macpherson attended the meeting and was most likely in favour. He was about to point out how much of a hypocrite Oldham was. But then got shut down as apparently you can't speak your mind as an elected official. But lying and saying you've been intimidated by people supporting a battery farm is perfectly fine.

Macpherson is a cartoon-councillor. Nobody takes him seriously. He was desperate to parrot what Ross Morrison said about Oldham, which was a really weak comparison anyway. He was rightly shut down for havering irrelevant crap.

Edited March 14 by wilsywilsy

[jed5697]

If this was not a well informed debate and the decision based upon it surely there requires to be an investigation into how the council planning is operating. An independent investigation into the highland council planning department given that references have been made to previous planning decisions. Cannot see the way this was handled as being uniquely flawed. Unfortunately for ICT they now have to consider their options and the future direction of the club. As mentioned if a legal approach were taken it would be costly; where’s Digby Brown when you need him. 

[lightlamp2]

6 minutes ago, wilsywilsy said:

Macpherson is a cartoon-councillor. Nobody takes him seriously. He was desperate to parrot what Ross Morrison said about Oldham, which was a really weak comparison anyway. He was rightly shut down for havering irrelevant crap.

Yet lying about being intimidated and threats similar to what MP’s faced is okay to say. Despite 5 other councillors stating they’ve received the same emails and they weren’t intimidating at all. Why wasn’t that ruled out of order? What relevance does that have to the application?

[Jack Waddington]

I wonder if these supergeniuses on the Clowncil board remember that, outside of tourism (i.e. Nessiehunters) we provide the most to the city in terms of income due to the amount of away fans coming north, even moreso in the Prem days. Killing us off doesn't just affect us, but the entire city will suffer. Not many fans coming north stop over in Inverness going to Dingwall, and you'd be lucky to pack out the Nip Inn for a Clach home game.

We essentially cemented the city on the map back in 2000, relegation took a notch out of it, but going down again to the seaside leagues, and even going bust, is taking a hand grenade to it.

The city has nothing going for it outside tourism and going against one of the larger income providers is essentially suicidal

[STFU]

9 minutes ago, Jack Waddington said:

I wonder if these supergeniuses on the Clowncil board remember that, outside of tourism (i.e. Nessiehunters) we provide the most to the city in terms of income due to the amount of away fans coming north, even moreso in the Prem days. Killing us off doesn't just affect us, but the entire city will suffer. Not many fans coming north stop over in Inverness going to Dingwall, and you'd be lucky to pack out the Nip Inn for a Clach home game.

We essentially cemented the city on the map back in 2000, relegation took a notch out of it, but going down again to the seaside leagues, and even going bust, is taking a hand grenade to it.

The city has nothing going for it outside tourism and going against one of the larger income providers is essentially suicidal

You are talking out of your hoop.

[wilsywilsy]

6 minutes ago, lightlamp2 said:

Yet lying about being intimidated and threats similar to what MP’s faced is okay to say. Despite 5 other councillors stating they’ve received the same emails and they weren’t intimidating at all. Why wasn’t that ruled out of order? What relevance does that have to the application?

How do you know they were lying or how they felt when reading the messages they received? They mentioned the emails because they were correspondence specific to this planning application. Macpherson was trying to break into some warped whataboutery mode and for his own good was put back in his box.

[ymip]

My mind is blown by the response to this news by alleged "fans" seemingly reveling at the imminent demise of the club.  Interesting that one "fan" joined the forum about 5 minutes before he posted.  Several others new to CTO in recent months who only ever seem to post about the battery farm, having absolutely nothing else to say in connection with the club - all very strange, agenda driven, behaviour.

The loss of green space argument in an already massively over developed part of the city is the biggest load of bollox I've heard in my life.  

    

[STFU]

44 minutes ago, lightlamp2 said:

Are you actually a fan? As I can’t understand any fan of our football club who values 2 percent of a patch of grass over £3.4 Million for the club. 
 

Given you’re such a cheerleader for the council im sure you also support those same councillors approving another hotel in place of the ironworks and spending money on a bridge to nowhere along the River Ness

This idea that everyone should support the club at all costs is the kind of knuckle dragging mentality mostly exhibited by fans of the OF.

[STFU]

1 minute ago, ymip said:

The loss of green space argument in an already massively over developed part of the city is the biggest load of bollox I've heard in my life.  

    

Being overdeveloped is even more reason to protect the green space, is it not?

[alwaysblue]

Council have also declined c.£125 k. per annum in business rates -it has been alleged-.at a time of budget cuts/ shortages . Also are the so called fans posting on here about being happy about the decision real fans or trolls. Possibly council plants - who knows .

 

[ymip]

STFU - How about you respond to my post of 14th February wherein I laid out my position in very clear terms.  Deafening silence from our self-appointed, pre-eminent knowledge on all things battery farm related.   

Edited March 14 by ymip

[Jack Waddington]

5 minutes ago, STFU said:

You are talking out of your hoop.

Must be aye. Being sat with the Montroses and the Kelties who have notoriously small fanbases must do wonders for the city center pubs who've previously catered for the multiple hundreds following the Dundonians and the Particks.

Call me a looney all you want, but the city needs a big name side, and Clach or a Caley side following in the footsteps of Queen of the South aren't filling those boots