It's not on the picture, but the triangle of land where the original stadium walls are could be better use of dead land if a hotel was put there. It could have access to the walkway and additional road access via a road bridge down Arnold or Gladstone St. SMC are responsible for that land, so could that give them open use of it?
Sorry I thought you meant the rail triangle. I actually believe that the south stand car park would be an option. Two floors of car parking, with a hotel and conference centre.
Just a little grudge I have had since the stadium was first built is that I always believed that the whole complex had been built for 'sport' as a whole not just football and rugby. I do not believe that the stadium/arena has been a good platform for all sports, I remember when I used to play hockey at the stadium I always thought that as players we were there for just creating a little more revenue for the SMSC. According to these plans there will be no more astro turf pitches, don't get me wrong I think the idea for drawing in extra money is great and the thought of a leisure complex sounds good, however I truly believe if we are to be an all round sporting city we need to find somewhere were we can advertise Hull as a sporting city of excellence with swimming pool, tennis courts etc. Sports that were originally ignored in the original build. We seem to be moving away from sport development and more towards making money, can't we be greedy and do both?
As someone whose principle sport for over 35 years was Hockey, I understand. However I do not believe that the astro pitches at the KC are in the right place, they should be in amongst other sports activities as part of any development I would like to see them relocated to Costello. I also believe that hockey needs spectators and you don't get them at Walton Street. Hockey is a very social sport, in Southampton the University sports grounds are a great model. Big multi sport facility with modern changing rooms and sectional bar, resturant. They cater for around 30 teams on a Saturday and are open everyday until late. Portsmouth Football club used to have a training centre just up the road, it had great pitches and a sand based astro, my club used it as a home ground for a season, but it cost a fortune £120 for two hours! The uni was £45 for a one and a half hour slot.
