(a)

the level of violence at the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy match, at Home Park between Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City on 9 November 2010, had not been seen in a considerable number of years;

(b)

sixty-six police officers together with dog handlers had been deployed at the match;

(c)

the migration of home supporters to the away supporters’ end had been difficult to manage by police officers and stewards; this had been due to people standing in the footways and stairways; both police officers and stewards had been forced to stand on pitch side during the match to prevent any confrontation between the rival supporters;

(d)

following the game it had taken 40 minutes to clear the stadium and move the Exeter supporters to the coaches;

(e)

the traffic management on match days of the car park, was the responsibility of Plymouth Argyle Football Club, although all parties were working together to improve this.

(f)

there had been a change in the law which meant that the police did not have the responsibility for traffic management at pre planned events, unless there was an emergency (police officers were permitted to direct traffic if there was a road traffic accident or an emergency); the current traffic management arrangements had been agreed between the council, police and Plymouth Argyle;

(g)

the police had not given the match a low priority, as the potential for trouble had been recognised albeit at a lower level than was witnessed; 66 police officers had been deployed at the match compared to much lower numbers at normal matches;

(h)

the Safety Advisory Group had been established for all league football clubs following the Hillsborough tragedy; the group –

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allowed all relevant parties to discuss and resolve any safety issues;

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comprised representatives from the council, police, fire, ambulance and Plymouth Argyle Football Club;

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oversaw the Safety Certificate which was issued by the council’s Licensing Committee;

(i)

the car park was licensed to Plymouth Argyle on match days and associated traffic management arrangements were the subject of discussions between Plymouth Argyle and the Council with the view to identifying improvements;

(j)

one flare had been thrown onto the side of the pitch (if the flare had landed on the pitch, the game would have been stopped); all stewards had been trained to NVQ level 2 which included fire training (it was a requirement of the Safety Certificate that all stewards received fire training); as a result of this incident buckets of sand were available at pitch side should this event occur in the future; one person was due in court in February 2011 in relation to this incident;

(k)

the issuing of the Safety Certificate was the responsibility of the council, however, if the requirement of the certificate were not meet by the Club, it would be in contravention of legislation; the day to day running of the Club and the ground was the responsibility of Plymouth Argyle;

(l)

the car park was licensed to Plymouth Argyle; proposals for an effective traffic management plan had yet to be approved by the directors of Plymouth Argyle and the Cabinet Member;

(m)

at the end of the match there had been a large number of people intent on violence together with a group of peaceful onlookers which had created a problem; an effective traffic management plan would not have helped this situation;

(n)

due to the migration of a large number of home supporters to the away supporters’ end, it had not been possible for a number of season ticket holders to sit in their designated seats;

police offers had taken this decision as they had not wanted to make the situation worse by enforcing this;

(o)

a large number of supporters liked to stand during matches; this had previously been enforced, with those supporters refusing to sit down being ejected from the stadium which had caused problems; a risk assessment of supporters standing during matches had been undertaken; in order to avoid any confrontation, as long as supporters were not disorderly they were allowed to stand;

(p)

the police would be happy to discuss CCTV issues outside of this forum;

(q)

the deployment of mounted police at Plymouth Argyle matches was rare; this service was extremely expensive;

(r)

additional police resources had been drawn in with a total of 78 police officers being deployed.

(1)

that Ward Councillors should be consulted by the Safety Advisory Group;

(2)

that a review of the traffic management at the park and ride car park is undertaken on Plymouth Argyle match days and consideration is given to a proposal to open the bottom end of the car park on match days to relieve congestion.