WYCOMBE Sports Developments Limited has this afternoon released a set of answers to questions raised through the media or to it directly.

This follows the plans and designs of the proposed stadium and sports village at Wycombe Air Park being released in recent weeks.

Two public meetings are being held this week, it announced.

One is on Wednesday between 7.30pm and 9.00pm at the Town Hall and the second is Thursday between 7.30pm and 9.00pm at Adams Park.

There will also be a drop in between 11am -12.30pm in the Eden Centre.

Below is WSDL's responses:

Who will pay for the facilities?

Wycombe Sporting Village is proposed as a joint venture between WSDL and the Council.

WDC will provide the land on Booker Air Park in exchange for a long lease (125 years) with WSDL and the Clubs. WSDL expects to pay rent of around £500k a year to the Council for the use of the land.

This figure will rise with inflation.

WDC will also contribute what is called “Enabling Development” This means that the Council will sell land to a housing developer for a cash sum and reinvest those monies back into the development.

These homes can only be developed because of the Sporting Village – as they are a development than “enables” community benefit. In our proposals this will be about 506 dwellings, in about 40 acres, developed to the south on the Air Park.

This form of development is a widely used principle to deliver projects with substantial community benefits.

The provision of enabling development and any council involvement we understand will not affect the rate of Council Tax by one penny, nor will it affect the provision of any front line services.

Any council costs on this project will be covered in two ways:

1. Initial start up funding from Capital budgets used by the Council to bring forward all their Capital development projects for the town – as was used in the early stages of the Eden Centre for example, to fund lawyers and pre-construction costs to protect the Council and tax payers – these are comparatively small scale sums and have a direct link to the Council benefiting financially long term.

2. In the build phase the council would utilise the Enabling Development monies to fund its part of the development.

The proposal is that whatever profit is made by the Enabling Development will cover the Council’s costs first, then what is left will be fully invested in the scheme, WSDL will then be responsible for funding the rest of the development with no cost overrun risk to WDC.

This commitment mitigates to a very great extent the risk WDC has in terms of investment commitments.

Where will the new fans come from?

We have done a great deal of research to establish the future expected crowds and we believe our assumptions are realistic based on history and many many recorded events for “new ground effect” – the new fans we predict will come from many sources a few of these as examples will be new families that don’t come to Adams Park because of the restrictive transport situation, a higher number of away fans that experience the same issue, more companies that will come on a match day because of the excellent corporate entertaining facilities we will offer.

In the coming days WSL will post examples of “new ground effect” on its website to illustrate the point in greater detail.

Has WSDL secured the necessary funding?

WSDL is currently in positive conversations with many prospective funders, but we can only go so far until such time as the Council confirm their position – before that funding can be signed off we also need to consult more the with community to confirm what facilities are desired on site.

We are committed to making this a facility for everyone in the community.

Our independent financial brokers are confident that the funding for this project can be raised in the markets.

What money will the council provide?

WSDL’s view (WDC may wish to comment) is that the Council will provide whatever initial funds they deem they will need to secure a legal contract called a “development agreement” with WSDL (subject to WSDL coming up with funding) and fulfill its other work stream requirements in the proposed Collaboration Agreement.

This will be done from tightly controlled capital budgets as above.

Thereafter the full extent of the Councils contribution will be in the construction phases and will be governed fully by the level and extent of the Enabling Development funds (via the new homes) and only be activated if WSDL can deliver their funding first.

WSDL believe that this Enabling Development needs to be c.£31m in order to make the overall development viable – to repeat these new homes come at no cost to the tax payer – they can only be developed at this site because of the “very special circumstances” this project delivers - they provide new affordable housing and they provide jobs.

What money will the clubs provide?

Before the Council moves to contract stage, the clubs and WSDL will need to prove that they have the money in place to support the development.

This provides a safeguard for the Council and puts the responsibility on the clubs and WSDL to positively secure the funding. This disputes claims of funding risk to the Council.

How does Wycombe stand to benefit from the Wycombe Sporting Village?

The Wycombe Sporting Village, will create at least 400 new long term local jobs, bring at least £125m of extra social and economic value to the area over the next 25 years (as valued by leading accountants Baker Tilly) and an estimated £12.5m of rental to WDC over the same period which the Council can spend on services.

It will also secure professional sport in Wycombe, provide outstanding sports and leisure facilities for the community and provide a place where people can pursue their hobbies, interests and recreational pursuits.

The Wycombe Sporting Village stands to benefit the whole community in Wycombe.

Protest group GASP - Groups Against Stadium Proposals - is now studying these answers and is expected to release a response via the BFP website tomorrow.