Clem'll Fix It

[Batch]

hmmmm. that's phrased like housing with the promise of players houses to justify it .

where are they putting it, the county ground car park!

[ThreeDrawsMentality]

I'm hoping Phil Smith can have a word with his employers and ask them if they want to buy town . Worth the modest $25bn and taken Como through the league's.

[theakston2k]

How do you feel about the idea of some element of residential development being introduced to house players and help the club generate income and support further improvements?

Hope we aren’t looking at something like Orient with flats in the corners, it’s just a bit shit. To be honest any form of residential development on the site would set a dangerous precedent.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Wasn't there talk of a hotel in the Town End car park

[Berniman]

I thought the covenent didn't allow residential buildings to be added to the site.

[Mooneyraker]

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/19882202.latest-swindon-town-council-talks-county-ground-sale/

Something on that in here...

[horlock07]

I thought the covenent didn't allow residential buildings to be added to the site.

As has been discussed to death on here previously (when various nefarious and less so purchasers have expressed an interest) covenants can be removed with agreement of all parties, in this case I would be arguing that the residential development would be for the benefit, via a financial enabling process, of the sport/leisure /community use of the wider site.

Plus, for instance, does the car park form part of the title covered by the covenant or is it just the CG footprint. I imagine when the Goddard estate gifted the land there was no need for a car park or owt like that?

The Trust appear to have some pretty good advisors on board, I can't imagine they woukd be asking the question if they had been advised it couldn't be achieved?

[Batch]

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/19882202.latest-swindon-town-council-talks-county-ground-sale/

Something on that in here...

thanks

A covenant placed on the land by the Goddard estate, which originally owned it, ensured that once the council sold the ground, it wouldn’t be turned into housing for a quick profit to the club.

Coun Renard added: “That covenant is still in place and it says the whole site must be used for sports and leisure purposes and I don’t imagine the Goddard estate would be looking to lift that covenant.

“Any further development would have to go through the planning process and be approved by the planning committee at the borough council anyway.”

[Batch]

from the trust:

"Hey @BatchStfc, it’s nothing more at the moment than just an idea of gauging residential housing in principle  to help fund the CG redevelopment. No proposals on how much, where or what type of housing. No idea if it’s even a viable option. Hope that helps?"

[tans]

from the trust:

"Hey @BatchStfc, it’s nothing more at the moment than just an idea of gauging residential housing in principle  to help fund the CG redevelopment. No proposals on how much, where or what type of housing. No idea if it’s even a viable option. Hope that helps?"

It must have been discussed with the club because otherwise why would you even ask the question?

[BambooToTheFuture]

If it's on the County Ground site then that's one way of opening the floodgates. Bet the Trust and Club try force the issue/convince fans it's only a good thing and a totally pure and innocent move.

Also begs the question, if this is their way of financing the stadium build/redev...what is their plan/option to financing if this isn't viable/supported? For some reason, and it's just a hunch, I feel like if this option can't be done...Town will sit in limbo where the ground will never end up completely redeveloped...just the bare minimum so it doesn't have to be resold back to SBC. Could end up being a redev lite thing; let's face it the current Town ownership don't appear to able to organise a Tea Party in Wonderland - let alone a Piss Up in a Brewery or at least don't appear to want to put in the finances required to organise as such.

I hope I'm spectacularly wrong but I feel very much ''don't touch with a barge pole'' kinda vibes about this.

NB: If they've identified land elsewhere which might be incorporated into a training centre/centre of development type facility where players can live as part of a residential then absolutely great. I fear that wouldn't be the case and it would be incorporated into the redev. Plus, Vice Chairman Zav has got to house all his Karachi ''Stars of Tomorrow'' somewhere...either that or soon, residents of Swindon could be being asked if they can house some refugees from Pakistan in the very near future...  

[Batch]

It must have been discussed with the club because otherwise why would you even ask the question?

I guess they could have just brainstormed ideas of how to raise more cash from the site.

I've marked it as a 0 as it's nonsense without context

[Oaksey Moonraker]

I liked the Sports Bar, Micro Brewery and Live Music Venue ideas. They could all combine quite well in a redeveloped Town End.

Micro Brewery with a tap room and Sports Bar next to it doubling up as a live venue would be good. Bristol City seem to have made the Sports Bar work at Ashton Gate.

Problem might be getting people out of the brewery or bar if our home performances don't improve.

[Robinz]

Great result today... Wobbles fans must be a worried bunch of souls if Town can do them 5 -1
No I am not on the wrong page. Like us Clem Morfuni
must be relieved that Town have found a way to win again. Season tickets sales could start to rise and we are all going to be looking forward with anticipation to a far better season next time round.
The one thing that troubles me... why has Clem fallen so much in love with Swindon. Could be the football club ? Possibly the railway museum . Town centre No. The weather Don't think so. The charm of the caring local people Surely not.
There is a whole world of wonderful places between Sydney and Swindon with far better prospect's. So what is it really Clem ?
My guess is the smell of a buck or simply trying to recover your previous investment. What ever it is please be honest and when eventually you move on leave the club in a better state than when you found it.

[RobertT]

The Stadium redevelopment was one of the items that stood out for me on the new AB minutes, where they presented their "vision".  It seems absurd to me that we do not already have a two and five year master plan ready to implement.  Maybe not down to the fine print, but surely we knew we'd get the deal done, which has been several years in the making.  People should already have a very clear idea of what the priorities need to be - the fucking ground has not been hiding all this time!

Financing it would be one of the first questions to begin work on - by now we should have some clear idea of what route we plan to take.  The rent is only 100k, that's going to pay for some paint and carpet, but any proper development work should have a business case supporting it nearing readiness by now.

Example - Stratton Bank - what plans are there and why?  We've heard talk of a roof, which does not seem like a sound investment to me.  The other facilities to make it useable during a Town End knock down and new stand development make some sense, but not until we are financed and ready to go on that.

The Exec boxes in the DR stand makes much more sense to me - right now one of our top priorities is to utilise our new found ground ownership to increase revenue.  We have pretty sub standard Corporate facilities (they are much improved, but very limited in scale) - Exec boxes would reduce capacity but deliver immediate financial returns through increased revenue per person attending and provide facilities that can be rented out.  We don't get close to capacity, so dropping it a little for a year or two won't cost us.  That won't be cheap to do though, it needs some serious capital - we should already have had a very good idea on that cost and have been working on how to finance.  Lets say they provide 10 years of use before needing a refit, how much Revenue can they generate vs the initial outlay?  How is that outlay going to be financed, maybe needing an interest rate - does the return make sense to invest?

Forgive me if I am sounding a bit down on the people running the show, but it rather looks like we are making things up as we go along.