A petitioner has called on Swindon Borough Council to press the Abbey Stadium owners Gaming International to get the stadium in use again.

And during a passionate speech at a recent council meeting, he accused the company of ‘deception’ and said the local authority needed ‘a new approach.

As part of the council’s response, leader Jim Robbins said the boss of Gaming International Clarke Osborne was: “not someone we would be choosing to work with”.

Andy Freegard of the group Swindon Needs Speedway presented a petition signed by more than 2200 people.

It called on the council to make Gaming International fulfil the 15 milestones it has agreed to bring the partially rebuilt stadium back into a fit state for Speedway meets and it also urged the council to find another space for speedway in the borough.

Speedway has not been held in Swindon since The Robins won the national championship in 2019.

Mr Freegard said: “Private companies have bought speedway stadiums across the country, to run them down and build housing. Swindon has become a victim of this deception.

“Gaming International has applied the same approach to other stadiums. They have allowed Bristol, Milton Keynes and Reading stadiums to become dilapidated. They have development approved on the promise of a new stadium. They  then demolish the existing stadium without any of these new stadiums ever having been built.”

The redevelopment of Abbey Stadium includes a large housing development around it – ostensibly to fund the new track and facilities. But while much of the housing is inhabited and another phase of housebuilding is well underway, the stadium is not yet fit for the resumption of Speedway.

This has meant that the Robins, as a team, who formally left the venue as their home, have not been able to race for four years.

An investigation by Swindon Borough Council into whether planning conditions had been broken in building the latest houses before the stadium was ready said the developers had: “met the minimums required through the granted planning permission to date, but nothing more."

Responding to the petition, council leader Councillor Jim Robbins expressed sympathy, but said the council was not able to offer financial support or find land for a new stadium.

He said the Abbey Stadium was the only suitable place for the sport and added: “We cannot operate speedway. But Clarke Osborne is not someone we’d be choosing to work with or put really scarce resources into.

“We will do everything we can to support speedway, if we can afford it, should an opportunity come up. But at the moment I cannot see one.”

Cllr Robbins said the site would be kept for leisure use in the local plan, and said the council would welcome another operator coming forward.

Gaming International and Clarke Osborne have been contacted for comment.

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