council want to talk to Town about new stadium

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Seems to me that there’s several on here who were adamant we needed a new stadium six months ago that appear to have had their mind changed.

New stadium or a fit for purpose stadium?

BP could fit the latter with enough thought, money and effort.

Would still like a new one myself, but not just any stadium. Some of the new ones are horrible if you get it wrong.

I took a friend to BP yesterday to watch his first game since the late 80's, he struggles to walk so we knowing we couldn't park close to the ground i had to drive past and drop him at McDonalds, got told to move on by the police while i was trying to help him out the car. I then had to fight my way through the traffic back to the old Ramsdens site before i could park up to then walk back to meet him which took me a good 40mins

When we made it to the ground i had been telling him about the new fan zone etc so we tried to get a pint only to be told the fan zone was full, ok not a problem so walked to the other end of the ground to enter at the lower smiths then had to walk all the way back to try and get in the lower smiths bar which was dangerously over crowded im my opinion so we took our seats in the ground, i went to grab two hot drinks so back all the other way to the end of the stand again to the kiosk which had a big queue so by the time i got back the game had started

We didn't bother with drinks at half time but did need the toilet which again was an absolute joke, never come as close to pissing myself without actually getting wet  

Full time we sat back for ten mins to let the rush leave, i got him to McDonalds and left him while i walked back for the car but it took me 50 mins to get out of Phelps Street and back to pick him up, when i dropped him off he thanked me for the day out but said he couldn't do it again so please tell me again why we would want to redevelop Blundell Park

Quoted from ginnywings

New stadium or a fit for purpose stadium?

BP could fit the latter with enough thought, money and effort.

Would still like a new one myself, but not just any stadium. Some of the new ones are horrible if you get it wrong.

It’s all about having the right ground for me. I think with a bit of thought into getting people in from better areas for parking or promoting public or shared transport and encouraging cycling and walking then a redeveloped BP is ideal.

It’s not difficult to envisage a new Main Stand development being the catalyst to rebuild both ends as a joined up u-shaped stand and then find a way of building around to join up with the Smith’s. Ballpark figures of 2000 and each end and a new c3500 Main would be a c10,000 capacity BP even if you don’t fill the Smith’s sides in. The difficult bit would be getting people to find better ways to get in than driving and that’s where you need to start looking at different locations.

Quoted from LH

It’s all about having the right ground for me. I think with a bit of thought into getting people in from better areas for parking or promoting public or shared transport and encouraging cycling and walking then a redeveloped BP is ideal.

It’s not difficult to envisage a new Main Stand development being the catalyst to rebuild both ends as a joined up u-shaped stand and then find a way of building around to join up with the Smith’s. Ballpark figures of 2000 and each end and a new c3500 Main would be a c10,000 capacity BP even if you don’t fill the Smith’s sides in. The difficult bit would be getting people to find better ways to get in than driving and that’s where you need to start looking at different locations.

The solution of getting people in and out is right behind the main stand

I love BP but it saw its day three decades ago. We didn’t bother with a beer in the ground as no chance of getting served plus the toilet situation in the Upper is a joke - how much revenue is lost with people thinking the same ? .

Quoted from LH

It’s all about having the right ground for me. I think with a bit of thought into getting people in from better areas for parking or promoting public or shared transport and encouraging cycling and walking then a redeveloped BP is ideal.

It’s not difficult to envisage a new Main Stand development being the catalyst to rebuild both ends as a joined up u-shaped stand and then find a way of building around to join up with the Smith’s. Ballpark figures of 2000 and each end and a new c3500 Main would be a c10,000 capacity BP even if you don’t fill the Smith’s sides in. The difficult bit would be getting people to find better ways to get in than driving and that’s where you need to start looking at different locations.

Read what Simon has written. It cannot be fit for purpose on the existing footprint, and it hasn’t been fit for purpose since the 80’s.

Parking is a nightmare if the attendance is over 5000.

Why are people from this area so scared of change, when change is exactly what is needed?

It does worry me that Stockwood and Pettit also appear to be of the same opinion of the local dinosaurs, in this respect.

Quoted from Heisenberg

It does worry me that Stockwood and Pettit also appear to be of the same opinion of the local dinosaurs, in this respect.

Hmm I'm not so sure they are as disinterested in a new stadium as their statements outwardly suggest. They are quite astute and I imagine work will be continuing to some extent behind the scenes, but they will be acutely aware that the fans have been promised a new stadium with bells on it many times, with premature announcements that have led to nothing.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are still on it, whilst making some improvements to BP as well (even if they got funding and permission for a new stadium tomorrow, it'd be a couple years till we were in it anyway).

Quoted from Grim up north

I love BP but it saw its day three decades ago. We didn’t bother with a beer in the ground as no chance of getting served plus the toilet situation in the Upper is a joke - how much revenue is lost with people thinking the same ? .

With every seat being sold yesterday then.......none 😉

As much as I love BP (and regardless of our demise over the past 20 years, it does hold many special memories for me), I struggle to wrap my head around the viability of redeveloping it. As the photo below shows, it's incredibly hemmed in from all angles (with the possible exception of the Findus) and the existing footprint of the ground isn't really sufficient to fit a modern stadium with a capacity in the region of 15,000 (which seems to be the general consensus of what we should be aiming for).

[img]https://i.ibb.co/DMtb1Z4/blundell-park.png[/img]
That's not to say it can't be done; Spurs managed to shuffle along the existing footprint of White Hart Lane after the local steel business which occupied the land they needed 'mysteriously' burned down, and Liverpool are making a good go of redeveloping Anfield with similar issues to those of BP, however the cost of buying up houses around the ground and compulsory purchase orders for the stubborn few who refuse to leave makes more economical sense in the context of a £100m+ rebuild, and is also ethically questionable.

Perhaps the best example vaguely relevant to us is Bristol City's redevelopment of Ashton Gate. They built two brand new stands whilst updating an existing one and they've got something that wouldn't look out of place in the Premier League, though one existing stand behind the goal remains with little which can be done with the road right behind it. A little trivia, and I'm not sure how well known this is, but those tower blocks in the foreground are those famously used as part of the set from Only Fools and Horses (Nelson Mandela House et al).

[img]https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e0/45/54/e04554d7723bc43c37b9937dbfb08beb.jpg[/img]
In our case, surely the issue isn't the availability of land. If Brentford can find a patch of land big enough to build a Premier League stadium in the heart of west London, surely it shouldn't be an issue in a part of England amongst the cheapest for land and absolutely screaming out for regeneration. Any redevelopment of BP would be restrictive, and potentially costly as a result. Putting sentiment to one side, it just doesn't strike me as the best way to advance the club in terms of its facilities.

The issue, in my opinion, has always been financing. I don't pretend to have all the answers to that, but whether we're trying to redevelop BP or looking elsewhere, a financing solution is going to be needed. If we can solve that conundrum, I'd love to see something akin to what Rotherham have got, built on brownfield land close to the town centre. Again, I love BP, I just don't think it holds the key to our future.

[img]https://i.ibb.co/6DTHpR0/rotherham-stadium.png[/img]

Does anybody seriously think we could get planning permission to redevelop the main stand? It's right up to the houses behind it, we would only be allowed to build it the same size as it is with the same problems with the view from the back.

You only have to look at the cinema at Meridian Point. Before it was built, people would travel to Scunny or Dull to watch films, rather than down Freemo. Now they have have modern comfortable facilities they don't have to. They have all the things that they want without having to travel.