Statement on the Vision for Lord’s

Date released: 18 November 2009

Today’s Times newspaper contains a story on the 'Vision for Lord’s' - a project to deliver significant and long-term improvements for Lord’s and one that seeks to ensure the Ground remains the Home of Cricket in the 21st Century.

MCC would like to clarify that an agreement to move towards a planning application to Westminster City Council is subject to three clear conditions:

1. The financial viability of the proposed development as a whole;
2. Drawing up an agreement with the Rifkind Levy Partnership, who own a strip of land at the Nursery End at Lord’s and;
3. Obtaining from the England and Wales Cricket Board a clear understanding of and an agreement regarding the number of Test Matches and One Day Internationals likely to be played in England and Wales, and particularly at Lord’s, during the coming years.

Upon satisfaction of these three conditions, the MCC Committee will put forward a resolution to the Club’s 18,000 Members to proceed to the next stage of the project, which would involve pre-application consultations with Westminster, the GLA and other interested parties, including local communities.

Response to The Times

Thomas Lord: Lord's is named after him In response to comments in The Times, MCC wishes to point out that its cricket ground in St John’s Wood is named after Thomas Lord, and the Club has no intention of the ground being named after anyone else.

The Committee has not discussed the possibility that particular areas within Lord’s might be re-named.

The Media Centre, since its construction in 1999, has borne the name of a commercial sponsor, and this has not met with any opposition. MCC will continue to sell naming rights for the Media Centre.

The Investec Media Centre Finally, MCC was disappointed by the indication that Lord’s is used only sporadically during the winter months.

The Club wishes to clarify that the Ground is used by many external organisations on non-match days and that this part of MCC’s activities is in a financially robust state.

Lord’s is used on an increasing basis for a variety of different events all year round.

• Events, conferences and hospitality at Lord's