As pointed out by
@armybike in my twitter discussion with Les Reid, even he thinks it could end up in court. The unfortunate thing is there is no planning reason for the application to be rejected. Lots of emotional reasons, yes but in terms of planning law alone, no. Les suggested that material economic reasons and the wider public interest could be used by the Cllrs to stop or at least form the basis for a court challenge.
Sad thing is, in economic terms, one party has offered to invest £7m, the other party, £0. I don't like it, but the best deal for the city of Coventry is the Wasps one. It's shafting CCFC but in my opinion, they've brought it on themselves.
There probably is room for all parties to co-exist and sitting down to throw around a few ideas about how it might work should be the sensible first step in moving towards something formal. Having responded to many competitive tenders in my professional career, if the first interaction you have with the party tendering is the formal notice to respond, you've got precious little chance of getting the outcome that you want. IMO, Wasps are getting what they want because they're prepared to do the ground work prior to the formal stages of anything. A meeting here, a lunch there and a discussion off the record over a couple of pints is the way relationships in business are built. SISU and the CCFC board appear to have not grasped this in any stage of their dealings with the City of Coventry and the parties in play here. "We batter people in court" is not the way to build trust.
This sad state of affairs, which I'm far from happy about, has at its heart a corporation who have buggered it up. Even Joy admitted they wouldn't do it again.