Stadium

Quoted from The Yard Dog

It amazes me that the council are quick to help the owners of Freshney Place ( Real Estate Partners (susidiary of Bank of Montreal)) by [/b]giving them the land were the old bus station was[b].  Then moved all the bus stops and starting dotting them all around Town Hall square, so a new cinema and cafe complex can built.

Freshney Place has been ripping off the shop outlets for 30 odd years with high rent, now people's shopping habits have changed (online shopping.  The last time I went into town lots of empty shops, or mobile outlets and pound shops, it's on a life support machine.

Some big names shops have moved out in recent years (Mothercare, WH Smith, BHS), for some reason BMO are investing £4.3m in redeveloping the old Primark store. "Mrs Austin said: "Clearly this represents a sizeable investment. It will serve to underline and strengthen Grimsby's shopping credentials, undoubtedly attracting more shoppers not just to Freshney Place, but also to the town". Deluded.

Grimsby Town Football Club have had to tread carefully as not to put the future of Freshney Place (councils jewel in the crown) in jeopardy as well as as all the other obstacles , such as councillor De Freitas, allotments etc.

This area is crying out for a sizeable entertainment complex where the whole family can go, especially now that Pleasure Island has closed.  Peaks Parkway development could fill that need, while GTFC would have a 21st century stadium.

If the council could as much effort into this development, as they have into Freshney place, it would have been built now.  

I am not against the Freshney development in principle, we need investment, its all the help they have had from the council, while other developments do not.

The area would benefit from both.

Anyway only 5 days to go to the start of the season

Quoted from GollyGTFC

I would turn this on it's head. Instead of asking why the entertainment centre can't be at Peaks Parkway maybe we should be asking why Town's new ground can't be located close to the planned Freshney redevelopment? ie Garth Lane.

Peaks Parkway is a bad location for those travelling to games from outside NE Lincolnshire. Ideally the ground should be easily accessible from the A180.

I travel to games from Grantham and even though I use the A46 from Newark to North of Lincoln, anyone with any local knowledge then takes the A15 and M180/A180 to get to the area. It's about 7 miles further, but so much quicker. Anyone coming from the North or the M1 corridor will also use the M180/A180 to come into NE Lincolnshire.

When Peaks Parkway was announced Fenty was very clear that the stadium had to be on the same site as the enabling development. But that was contradicted later when he said that multiple enabling developments could be anywhere around the area. if that is the case then I don't see any issue with Peaks Parkway just being a big enabling development for a stadium somewhere else (Garth Lane).

It seems like PP has been chosen because it's the easiest to achieve in the short term. I can remember reading an article in a match day programme (might have been v Stoke City the weekend before we played Aston Villa in the FAC R4 in 1994?) about Town moving to a new stadium. That was 24 years ago. We waited long enough. Another couple of years delay to build the stadium at a decent location might seem like a ball ache now, but would be worth it for the next 100 years after we move into the stadium.

It seems a pity that there is a massive redevelopment scheme for an entertainment complex in Grimsby and the club aren't part of the scheme.

[/b]And I would also question which retailers they expect to attract to that part of Peaks Parkway. I can't think of many big retail chains who aren't in the area already and with a better location. Retail is generally dying off. You have a massive extended out of town shopping area along Victoria Street from the A180 to just beyond the Peaks Parkway junction. Who wants to have a store a mile and a half or so further down the road?[b]

To me it's a no brainer. There's a football stadium sized piece of land 50 yards away from the 9-screen cinema / 7 restaurant entertainment complex. Build the stadium at Garth Lane.

Peaks Parkway can be the enabling development- mainly houses and whatever else they can manage to attract (pub/restaurant, Drive thru etc...).

Quoted from psgmariner

what golly said.

Quoted from heppy88

Its time to move on. The debate as to where the new stadium is to be located is over. The decision has been made and it WILL be at Peaks Parkway. Obviously this is not going to be to everyone's liking, but these decisions never are. Much money and time has been spent on deciding Peaks Parkway as the location. Its time to move on and support the club with this aim.