Stadium statement.....

....when can we expect one?
surely with something as big as this we need to be kept up to speed?

 

It's poor that we had to find out about our stadium on twitter. The club hasn't even come out with anything on the OS yet but as always they are slow. Whoever runs the OS needs sacking, Terribly slow with any updates and by the time they do post something we knew it about 3/4 hours before.

 

Typical...

 

Cheers Wize......
My take on it........the powers that be at City have been "tipped off" that the whole debarcle is going to carry on a lot lot longer yet and cost SL a shed load more money. BCC have quietly hinted to SL that it would be save his time and money to come to a "compromise" with the nimbys,i.e, land to be used for a limited amount of housing and NO stadium, in exchange for a fast track planning go-ahead for the gate re-developement. SL would then also get some money back when the allocated land for ousing is sold to BCC.

May be way off of course but something has gone on and a "quiet" word has leaked out somewhere.....

 

I must say that I am getting confused over what is going on here.
The first thing I would wish to say is that if Ashton Vale is still City's priority option then I am all in favour of that development.

Where I have difficulty is with what seems to be proposed at the moment.
If the Ashton Vale site is Green Belt, then it comes under specific planning rules.
1. You can develop an existing structure......Not the case here.
2. You can add domestic buildings supporting your agricultural business..... Not the case here.
3. When on the edge of existing boundaries you can lobby the council to extend the boundary.

So AG application must come under 3. When a stadium was proposed AG was the obvious location, for the obvious reasons. With the World Cup bid on the table, the Councils of BCC and North Som. clearly took the view that this was a great idea and seemed to have passed the planning at a stroke.

Now it seems that someone is cutting a deal that City are given a quick planning pass on their redevelopment of AG and parts of AV will be granted permission for the development of housing.

Surely that's clearly a breach of Green Belt Planning rules? The stadium couldn't realistically go anywhere else. But for housing, all around Temple Meads for example there are acres of brown field sites.

 

You're not the only one....but option 3 would seem the only possible answer.

I heard that the plot owned by SL was originally purchased as agricultural land and therefore doesn't qualify as point 2 as there is no existing business...i.e a farm or dairy etc.

It's all like a bad dream. I wish that someone would see sense and give the city 2 decent stadiums.
And while they're at it, they could look at taking down 90% of all superfluous traffic lights installed in the last 5 years, most of which serve no purpose other than to pander to non existent pedestrians and which are on red on major roads like the A37 at 04.30 and that is by default.
There is something seriously wrong somewhere....

 

I'm glad someone else is having the same difficulty.

The PC brigade have taken the place over with all the nonsense which you have pointed out Angelic. Did you see the Greens at the Rovers final planning application? it was pathetic to listen to them.

 

As was discussed earlier, that will surely bring a whole new debate to the legitimacy of building on Green Belt land and a whole new set of protests and protesters. I believe it's not unusual that people object vociferously to the breakdown of the Green Belt corridors between existing built up areas.
I would imagine North Somerset may not see this in the same way as 'ThisisBristol'

 

It tells me that they still havent given up on it, but that its looking less likely that our beautiful club will be relocated to an unfriendly part of town.

Using Arsenal as an example, I used to love going with me dad to see his Arsenal play at Highbury. There was something important and majestic about the place, something terribly British with all the history. And the shape of the ground, all different levels of stands, all memorably atmospheric on a big day (which were many). I dont find the donuts dotted around the country as anything but sterile. Certainly not like the stand-up and see your footy 70s.

So what i'm saying is, not having our all singing/all dancing Ashton Vale is a disappointment, and a trade-off.
Because with Ashton Gate we have the history. The moments when we all went to another place.
I dont want to stand in a field (or village green) half a mile away. I want to be able to feel like i'm near the spot where Keith Fear lobbed David Hooper (or whatever his name was). I want to feel I might be sat in precisely the place where in the past Jimmy Mann blasted a thunderbolt past the England goalkeeper from 42 yards.
Or where JET did something similar with the vundergoal against Gas. Or any other moment from a stackfull of AG life memories.

Highbury had to go because the ground had reached its capacity and was holding the club back.
That which replaced it (why is it called The Emirates ?) is impressive, but lacks the importance of Highbury for precisely the same reasons.
Ashton Gate was the original, the identity of Bristol city. It is not a big ground, or particularly nice, but the spirit of the club lives there just as the spirit of British football lives there.
Imagine how it will be after they've spent a bit of money on it

 

Very close Rickster, it was David Harvey and yes it's still a special one off memory of mine too.

Also fully agree with the historic side of your post. AG is our home, but from a corporate selling and best use of the facility 13 days out of 14 during the season, it's not especially fit for purpose.

 

Sorry Angelic - altzheimers

Facility wise, thats where the upgrading of AG comes in.
When you look at some grounds and the lack of space afforded to them (notably some of the London clubs), we do have a bit to play with. Also, the steeper the stand, the more imposing and atmospheric the effect both on and off the pitch.
There is enough space at Ashton Gate to construct our all-purpose stadium - it just needs courage, skill and hard cash.

 

There's enough room fot a decent stadium but the access and parking is terrible. We need to figure out that part of the equation.