COMMENT: We want to see vibrant football club (From Worcester News)
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COMMENT: We want to see vibrant football club
7:10am Wednesday 11th February 2009 in Sport
FEARS over the safety of pedestrians on the roads around Worcester City’s proposed new football stadium are just the latest in a long history of twists and turns surrounding the project.
Parish councillors, giving their views on the planning application for the stadium at Nunnery Way, have raised concerns that crossing the 70mph dual carriageway outside the proposed ground will be dangerous for fans arriving on foot.
Solutions to these problems along with a whole host of other objections, not least from those who are against the development of green belt land alongside the M5, will have to be found if the club’s long-planned move from St George’s Lane is to become a reality.
This newspaper has made no secret of our desire to see City and the Warriors rugby club sharing the Sixways stadium. We accept that proposal is now dead in the water.
The football club has little choice but to move from St George’s Lane. To stay would be to sign the club’s death warrant. Whether Nunnery Way is the best option is debatable – but it is the only option at the moment.
Our wish is to see a successful and vibrant football club in Worcester. A club with Football League ambitions is vital to a city with Worcester’s proud sporting heritage.
There are many issues to be resolved and we still remain to be convinced that the move will leave Worcester City debt-free and able to move forward on a strong financial footing. But the Nunnery Way development retains our support in principle because we fear for the club’s future without it.
Comments(16)
Andrew Guy
says...
8:02am Wed 11 Feb 09
Public consultation on this application remains open until 17 February 2009, so send your comments to:
Alan Coleman
Acting Head of Planning
Worcester City Council
Orchard House
Farrier Street
Worcester
WR1 3BB
or by e-mail to:
ACOLEMAN@worcester.g
ov.uk
Andrew Guy
says...
8:16am Wed 11 Feb 09
“It’s time for City to bite the bullet.
It doesn't seem three years since Worcester City Football Club first excited us with plans for a new stadium at Nunnery Way.
The Evening News has been steadfast in its backing for the dream and the site - and we remain desperate for City's success on and off the pitch.
But now we accept that Doc Sorensen's brave new world may have to take shape as something other than a gateway landmark on the M5 approach to the Faithful City.
Between June 1997 and June 1999, the club has gone to the city council with proposals for the business scheme it needs to sit alongside the ground and pay for its development.
Each time, the city has repeated its desire to see the club prosper - but told officials that, while a stadium's suitable for the greenfield site, the other ideas aren't.
A fourth proposal, due to be put before councillors four days before City's Dr Martens League programme kicks off next month, drifts even further from the path.
Indeed, the council's list of objections to the latest scheme casts such a large shadow that we can't resist the thought that, in essence, the club's now flogging a dead horse."
Tp46
says...
8:21am Wed 11 Feb 09
I don't think that they will ever move up there so will have to stay where they are until they finally go under.
Avante
says...
9:01am Wed 11 Feb 09
Tp46
says...
9:37am Wed 11 Feb 09
Avante
says...
10:30am Wed 11 Feb 09
Its up to the developer to ensure that the application caters for safety, and conforms to planning guides, and if they don't? Well the plans get rejected again, c'est la vie!!
Tp46
says...
10:39am Wed 11 Feb 09
Doogie 46
says...
10:56am Wed 11 Feb 09
,football stadium etc.)surely it will become a built-up area and therefore subject to a much lower speed limit.
However I fail to see how these plans differ in principle from the old B&Q "enabling" plans which were thrown out a while back.
Has the council given any indication that the project is on the right track but needs a few modifications or is it likely to be totally rejected again?
It has seemed over the last few years that the council has bent over backwards to accommodate the rugby club but when it comes to City the barriers go up.
At the moment it seems a possibility that there is going to be a group of people with £7m in their hands and no football club to need to spend it on - could it happen???
Spetchley Dave
says...
11:15am Wed 11 Feb 09
Explains all you need to know about why the Sixways development has been a success and the Nunnery Way one is doomed to fail...
High Time
says...
11:25am Wed 11 Feb 09
Doogie 46 wrote:£7m in there hands I don't think so, with all that they have borrowed they will be lucky to see £5m? it could be a tin shed in the middle of a field with what they have left..
If the amount of development proposed is given the go-ahead(hotel,car showrooms,restaurant ,football stadium etc.)surely it will become a built-up area and therefore subject to a much lower speed limit. However I fail to see how these plans differ in principle from the old B&Q "enabling" plans which were thrown out a while back. Has the council given any indication that the project is on the right track but needs a few modifications or is it likely to be totally rejected again? It has seemed over the last few years that the council has bent over backwards to accommodate the rugby club but when it comes to City the barriers go up. At the moment it seems a possibility that there is going to be a group of people with £7m in their hands and no football club to need to spend it on - could it happen???
RichardW
says...
11:37am Wed 11 Feb 09
High Time wrote:£5m? You'll be lucky! A tin shed? It won't be that good.
Doogie 46 wrote: If the amount of development proposed is given the go-ahead(hotel,car showrooms,restaurant ,football stadium etc.)surely it will become a built-up area and therefore subject to a much lower speed limit. However I fail to see how these plans differ in principle from the old B&Q "enabling" plans which were thrown out a while back. Has the council given any indication that the project is on the right track but needs a few modifications or is it likely to be totally rejected again? It has seemed over the last few years that the council has bent over backwards to accommodate the rugby club but when it comes to City the barriers go up. At the moment it seems a possibility that there is going to be a group of people with £7m in their hands and no football club to need to spend it on - could it happen???£7m in there hands I don't think so, with all that they have borrowed they will be lucky to see £5m? it could be a tin shed in the middle of a field with what they have left..
I don't think pedestrian access is going to be a problem and its a waste of time to debate it.
By the time this ground is built most of the WCFC supporters will be too old to walk.
The small amount of supporters that are still following the City will be able to share a taxi.
Doogie 46
says...
12:22pm Wed 11 Feb 09
Avante
says...
12:53pm Wed 11 Feb 09
Doogie 46 wrote:This differs from the B&Q scheme in as much as the B&Q scheme catered for 50% (10 acres) of football stadium and 50% (10 acres) of enabling development. This scheme caters for 25% (5.5 acres) of football ground and 75% (14.5 acres) of enabling development. At the time of the last public inquiry, the inspector said it was hard to tell which was the enabling development on the site, now its even harder! well actually its not, its clear that the football ground is the enabling development for a retail park!
If the amount of development proposed is given the go-ahead(hotel,car showrooms,restaurant
,football stadium etc.)surely it will become a built-up area and therefore subject to a much lower speed limit.
However I fail to see how these plans differ in principle from the old B&Q "enabling" plans which were thrown out a while back.
Has the council given any indication that the project is on the right track but needs a few modifications or is it likely to be totally rejected again?
It has seemed over the last few years that the council has bent over backwards to accommodate the rugby club but when it comes to City the barriers go up.
At the moment it seems a possibility that there is going to be a group of people with £7m in their hands and no football club to need to spend it on - could it happen???
CLT32 states that an area of 4 hectares should be available for a football stadium, however this scheme only provides for just over 2 hectares for a football ground!
Since 1999 somebody has wanted this development really badly. Whats the big game? Who stands to gain most out of this? It certainly isn't the football club, who by their own admission will be going to a two sided, half built stadium, already in debt to around £1 million and with a negative P&L for the first 5 years at least!
clerken
says...
2:25pm Wed 11 Feb 09
Spetchley Dave
says...
2:26pm Wed 11 Feb 09
I said that Sixways was not within the City boundaries, not Nunnery Way. Try reading things properly.
Spetchley Dave
says...
12:00pm Thu 12 Feb 09
No admission that in fact YOU were wrong not me?
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