MCC members critical of development plans for Lord’s that were circulated last month are threatening to cause a delay to the special general meeting (SGM) scheduled for September. They have written to the chairman claiming that a review document is not impartial, that more use should be made of the disused railway tunnels at the Nursery End and that it would be better to wait until the club hears from the ECB on whether it will retain two Tests each year.
The requisitionists, who have already successfully staged one SGM over the long-running dispute, believe that the club needs to look again at its own masterplan, which focuses on piecemeal development of Lord’s, and the alternative put forward by Charles Rifkind, who owns the head lease on the tunnels and wants to build apartments above them. They believe that the review document is biased in favour of the club.
Gerald Corbett, the chairman of MCC, has told the requisitionists that their views will be considered at the committee’s next meeting. The club’s updated masterplan favours extending the capacity of the ground to 32,000. There is a concern within the committee, however, that the prospective redevelopment at the Kia Oval, which will take the seating to 40,000, could result in Surrey staging two Tests a summer instead of MCC.
The original Vision for Lord’s, which was abandoned in 2011, proposed increasing the capacity to 40,000. There is some support within the committee for the requisitionists’ view that development beneath the Nursery End could extend beyond parking space for cars and bicycles and the storage of television equipment. The initial intention was to create additional space for an indoor school, kitchens and offices.
The requisitionists, who are led by Thomas Page, a lawyer, have to decide whether to press for a further hold-up in developing the most famous of all cricket grounds.