Trust look to buy the CG

[Mooneyraker]

In terms of re-development, the CG is quite a good re-development site as legacy stadia goes I imagine. It isn't boxed in tightly by houses, it is rarely full so you can pull a stand down without shafting the fanbase etc, quite a big carpark there as space for site management etc. I imagine the cost goes through the roof when you have to start employing specialist methods for that stuff.

[Batch]

I've often baulked at the costs that USA stadia rise to, maybe the UK industry is just not pricing this correctly.

the Vegas football stadium was a mental cost.

then the spere concert thing came along and said "hold my pint"

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

In terms of re-development, the CG is quite a good re-development site as legacy stadia goes I imagine. It isn't boxed in tightly by houses, it is rarely full so you can pull a stand down without shafting the fanbase etc, quite a big carpark there as space for site management etc. I imagine the cost goes through the roof when you have to start employing specialist methods for that stuff.

Just a bit tight to the cricket pitch and houses on the ST/DRS corner. Other than that its fairly free reign.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Can anyone tell me what would stop a future investor/owner of STFC also purchasing the cricket ground in order to expand the STFC blueprint if also wanting to look towards a bigger stadia and future development?

Also, has anyone [football club owner] ever tried to approach the council about acquiring Southbrook Fields? And if not, how come? That's a larger site than the current CG one and only an hair's breadth away. Could rehome Sunday League footy at the current CG site - essentially switching locations 

I'm asking because I don't know but they both seem like large enough areas to build/rebuild a new stadia rather than the option to just refurb/part rebuild the current one.'

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

The cricket area is huge and would give us so much more scope to build whatever we wanted.

You'd probably have to find the cricket club a nice deal and build them a little ground somewhere else as part of it.

The other thing as well, is the pavilion listed?

[Mooneyraker]

The cricket area is huge and would give us so much more scope to build whatever we wanted.

You'd probably have to find the cricket club a nice deal and build them a little ground somewhere else as part of it.

The other thing as well, is the pavilion listed?

Yes indeed. Grade II.

[horlock07]

The other thing as well, is the pavilion listed?

Yep, plus Sports England would no doubt object like feck to the loss of the facility and Councils are terrified of going against SE! 

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Could turn it in to the club museum I suppose.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Yep, plus Sports England would no doubt object like feck to the loss of the facility and Councils are terrified of going against SE! 

Yeah but let's say the proposal was to ensure they had a new shiny purpose built facility, would this make negotiations a little more open by keeping SE happy? Pavillion surely wouldn't be an impossible issue, could incorporate that into a new build {see Craven Cottage in terms of Grade II} and there are less complexities than if if were a Grade I. I know you know more/specialise in planning so just wondering if there is/was a possible pathway .

I mean also wouldn't it be possible to say, purchase some of the cricket ground and re landscape the whole area in order to make things ''fit'' a bit better? Let's face it a decent strip of land on the SCC is/has been used as a temporary car park for footy several times so could the outfield be reduced all round slightly for example? It's quite a large cricket field. Not to mention where Foundation Park and the Athletics track is too. A big reshuffle around with that whole patch of land could see everyone happy. It would be interesting to try and incorporate Foundation Park and purchase that as an asset, along with maybe a section of land on the South East end of the cricket ground and the land that links between Foundation Park and the CG [towards the North West corner of Stratton Bank]. Could end up with a largish 'L' shaped piece of land to repurpose without pissing off too many folk. Just utilising the space a bit better.

Trying to see how it ''could'' all work 

[Tails]

I think there would be quite a strong local objection to the cricket club being removed, including from a lot of Town fans. I'd like to think we could rebuild with the cricket club staying.

[horlock07]

I think there would be quite a strong local objection to the cricket club being removed, including from a lot of Town fans. I'd like to think we could rebuild with the cricket club staying.

To utilise the cricket club site would I assume be basically a demolish and start again, looking at it without the cricket club, if you plan that route the obvious thing would be to shunt the whole lot a little bit south west which would free up more room behind the SB and the Arkells whilst also leaving room behind the TE and DRS to expand them a bit more. I dunno how far ownership extends down towards the Magic Roundabout, but that bit of land and that behind the DRA is your site for the 24/7/365 revenue earners.

[reeves4england]

Even without acquiring land from the cricket club, might it be possible to build right up to the boundary with a road/walkway underneath? A rebuild like this would comfortably accommodate an extra 1000-1500 seats with scope for vastly improved admin space and commercial facilities.

I think a rebuild of the Arkells is probably bottom of the to-do list though, so not likely to be an issue for 5-10 years minimum.

[BambooToTheFuture]

I think there would be quite a strong local objection to the cricket club being removed, including from a lot of Town fans. I'd like to think we could rebuild with the cricket club staying.

I wasn't really advocating the cricket ground being removed completely just looking more at options to better utilise the space by shuffling stuff a bit. Which is also why I thought about of a potential other local site for STFC to purchase and then switch locations [like Southbrook]. A more rich owner might want to purchase say that site, retain the ownership of the current CG site [which would become a new site for Sunday League although at this rate it might be used for that anyway...] AND want to purchase the FP site too. I would imagine the granting of somewhere like Southbrook for the intentions of stadia purchase would come with the caveat and covenant that the ''old CG'' site must be able to allocate a facility for recreational purposes.

Could then an ambitious and wealthy [yes i'm wondering where they might be] owner also focus on making an Academy link with FP in order start developing a CoE/Academy Facility. This way you not only keep everyone happy - inc the cricket lot - but also create almost organic links with grass roots, FP and Academy because they'll all be playing in and around the same patch of land. The club has it's new ground in a different location but close enough to allay any fears of the ground leaving the town and [legally] imposing enough for the stars of tomorrow to look across at and all but dream about one day playing in the footsteps of Pierce Sweeney Anton Rodgers Harry Agombar Taylor Cunt Charlie Austin.

Yes but to dream, and that's not even an overarchingly far flung one - well it is for any Town fan at this moment in time. Maybe in my lifetime 

[RobertT]

I think you could easily shift the cricket pitch a little further North towards the Pavilion and purchase some of their land, giving more room for a long term Arkells overhaul/replacement.  That would be well doen the pecking order though.  The footprint we have, and work needed on two ends alone will keep us busy for a few years.

[horlock07]

I think you could easily shift the cricket pitch a little further North towards the Pavilion and purchase some of their land, giving more room for a long term Arkells overhaul/replacement. 

Way beyond my area of expertise, do cricket grounds at certain levels have to have a certain sized pitch and all that jazz?

Anyway this is all very speculative as we rarely fill the ground we have at the moment and don't appear to have a recptacle to piss in.