Dragons Dent (in Wycombe’s finances)

Here’s the next sketch in our series highlighting the bizarre claims and ridiculous assumptions surrounding the Wycombe stadium proposals.

Since this was filmed (only last week) more information has been released through the WSDL spin machine.

Still the same bizarre vague claims though – apparently Wycombe will receive ‘special benefits worth £125million over 25 years’. What on earth are ‘special benefits’? And they’d have to be pretty damn special to conjure £125million out of nowhere.

Still no mention of what these much-mooted ‘community benefits’ are going to be.

Still the same glaring errors in research – apparently 1 in 4 adults in the Wycombe area is obese. Those are national statistics. In the very report they quote from, it says that in the Wycombe area it’s 1 in 5, significantly lower than the national average. Their unemployment figures are also wrong. (That’s not to say that these aren’t very real problems in our area, just that it’s not very reassuring when asking for millions of tax-payers’ money that they get simple figures wrong! Suggestive of deliberate misleading or just incompetence?)

Still the same unrealistic projections too – apparently once Wycombe buys this stadium for WSDL, it’s going to receive £500k per year in rent for the next 125 years. Can anyone show me a stadium that has lasted 125 years?

We should say that although £80 million is mentioned in the sketch (the figure originally mooted), WSDL is ‘only’ asking now for £25million from Wycombe District Council (so that’s alright then!)

Enjoy