Razed speedway track cannot be revived - developers

Developers responsible for a sports facility extended without proper planning permission have asked a council whether they can keep their changes.

Rye House Group has told East Herts Council it cannot revive a former speedway track it removed next to the building near Hoddesdon.

The firm asked for permission to tear up the track, build a gym and extend a gymnastics building as part of a 2021 planning application, which the authority refused in September 2023.

But the track has been removed and an extension to the Hertfordshire Gymnastics Club (HGC) building – including a terrace – is complete.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Rye House Group has submitted a fresh application asking for permission to keep the extension to the building - once the main speedway spectator stand.

The company’s team acknowledged the council had put together a planning enforcement file for “works not in accordance with planning consent”.

The application reads: “With the works that have already been lawfully undertaken on the site by Rye House Group and the decisions that have already been made by the local planning authority, a revival of speedway would now not sit safely with the existing site uses.”

The developers added: “It was clear that there had been no investment in maintaining or upgrading the stadium and its facilities for a number of years, and that a significant financial input would be required to improve the existing stands and facilities."

Rye House Rockets speedway team were based at the stadium site but ceased operation in 2018.

The planning application does not affect the next-door Rye House Kart Raceway, where seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, from Stevenage, launched his career.

East Herts Council received objections to the works from as far afield as Norfolk and the West Midlands.

One objector from Bedford also wrote: “How can they get away with ripping up a perfectly fine speedway track which was loved by thousands of fans?”

Another, from Hitchin in Hertfordshire, said: “This application attempts to seek approval for the vandalisation of what was, and still could be a valuable community asset."

A third from Billericay in Essex said she would have to drive to Oxford Stadium to watch speedway – a 91-mile trip – while a fourth from the Diss area of Norfolk accused the firm of having “destroyed a much-loved community asset”.

An East Herts Council spokesperson added: “We can confirm the track has been removed, but the council is currently assessing options in resolving the breaches on the site.”

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