The long-running saga of Musselburgh racecourse may take a potentially dramatic twist later this month.
East Lothian Council (ELC) could attempt to take sole control of the course, something which is likely to put them at loggerheads again with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).
In December, the track’s temporary racing licence was extended once more, until April 7, by which time the BHA expected any recommendations of the governance review conducted by law firm Pinsent Masons to have been implemented.
Now it would appear ELC has another plan which it has yet to deliver to the BHA.
In August 2013, ELC made the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee (MJRC) an associate committee of the Council. This was all done without reference to the MJRC or the Lothian Racing Syndicate (LRS) and The Herald understands that ELC is ready to use that amendment to overturn the current Minute of Agreement (MOA) between ELC and the LRS in an attempt to marginalise the LRS.
The next full meeting of ELC is scheduled for February 27 when the ruling Labour group is expected to present the associate committee model as an interim measure to achieve renewal of the racecourse’s licence.
Provided opposition parties agree, the new committee would consist of four councillors and two non-council members nominated by the Council.
Two names who have been mentioned are Raymond Anderson-Green, a leading owner, and Robert Miller-Bakewell, a director of Kelso racecourse.
Both are current members of the LRS but, crucially, they would not be nominated as such. The Herald has been made aware that neither man is willing to take up such a nomination offered on those terms.
The obvious sticking point in ELC’s strategy is that any amendment to the MOA requires the agreement of both ELC and the LRS under clause
five of the MOA. Without such agreement the Council would require the MOA annulled through raising an action of reduction in the courts on the basis that the composition of the MJRC is ultra vires, meaning that the decision is beyond the MJRC’s legal capacity.
Any court action would surely bring a legal challenge by the LRS and it seems inconceivable that they would voluntarily submit to such an amendment to the MOA which would cede all power to the Council. The very crux of the current dispute is that the Council members of the MJRC have been using their inbuilt majority to dominate the agenda.
ELC's hopes of retaining both their powerbase and the racing licence may yet be thwarted by the BHA which may not look kindly upon a manoeuvre that appears to have the primary aim of excluding the LRS as a viable part of the decision-making process.
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