council want to talk to Town about new stadium

Quoted from Poojah

That's certainly an interesting concept. Putting the area itself for one side to a moment, the fundamental issue with redeveloping BP on its existing footprint is that it simply isn't big enough to build a modern stadium of sufficient capacity with the required facilities required to make such an investment worthwhile.

Using Rotherham's 12,000 seater stadium as a template, you can see from the mock-up below (all to scale) that the land BP sits on is simply way too small for this to work (assuming the homeowners surrounding the ground aren't prepared to give up their garden and perhaps even a bit of their kitchen):

[img]https://i.ibb.co/ykF0wMw/Current.png[/img]
If however you did own those houses on Harrington Street you increase the size of the plot by around 30%, and in rotating the stadium you could, just about, fit a stadium similar to Rotherham's. In fact, given the plot-imposed limitations of Rotherham's smaller side stand you could probably squeeze in something approaching 14,000 if the ground was well enough designed.

[img]https://i.ibb.co/y04F531/Rotation-Rotation.png[/img]
It might be an option, who knows, but just like other mooted locations it has plenty of complexity associated with it - not least the fact you'd have to purchase the best part of £2m of property (which let's not forget, are people's homes) which would take a substantial amount of time, and that attempting to play football there while it was rotated and redeveloped would be very difficult if not impossible. I have a feeling that Bournemouth and maybe even Blackpool may have done so, but they weren't as hemmed in by houses as BP is.

I don't see any other way that BP could be adequately redeveloped (an architect though I am not), and personally this approach looks potentially expensive, risky and complex to execute. If nothing else though, it's an interesting idea.

Great diagrams, thanks for this.

There's 2 obvious issues straight away:

1. Does the club have the money to buy the houses and would homeowners (many of whom may have lived there all their lives) want to sell? This is a private project so there won't be compulsory purchase provision.
2. Access to what is now the Main Stand side would still be very difficult for a modern stadium of that size. Modern planning applications have to consider quick and safe exit during emergencies etc and the existing 'gap' would not do the job.

A less obvious potential issue is the actual ground that BP stands on. It's very close to the beach and therefore very sandy - would it physically support a modern building of that size? I don't know, just floating the possibility.

And finally, buying the houses on Harrington St and demolishing them would mean one side of the street would be the stadium and access would be directly from the street (and exit at the end of the game would be directly on to it). So, Harrington St would have to be closed for safety reasons on match days as cars and 10,000 people spilling on to the road don't mix. I can also see no end of objections from the residents on the other side of the road who don't want to live their lives looking at the side of a football stadium - not that their current view is The Hanging Gardens of Babylon!

I doubt we'd get planning permission.

Quoted from rancido

It would cost a lot of money to upgrade Docks Station to accommodate even the TPE 3/6 car trains for the Manchester to Cleethorpes run. Network Rail do not run the trains, only the franchise operators do this. On how many occasions would these "thousands" of passengers use this facility, bearing in mind we only have 22/23 home games a season. This idea of using Docks Station or New Clee Station for accommodating football fans is a non starter.

Fair enough. I bow down to your superior knowledge on this!

On the issue about not getting planning permission for a large car park at a new stadium, depending on the location I’d like to think the club/council could push for one to be included at the site which could double up as a park and ride for Cleethorpes in the summer months.

That could ease any environmental concerns and ensure regular use all year round.

Quoted from White_shorts

I doubt the club would get planning permission to increase the capacity of Blundell Park, as it is surrounded by houses with no parking provision.

What do you like about BP that could not be replicated at Freeman Street?

Yeah I suppose you are correct.

I just like the ground.

Didn’t stop Lincoln doubling the capacity (and height) of the Stacey West stand.

Latest idea . Knock the main down and build a raised terrace / seated stand with modern facilities such as changing rooms and a huge supporters bar underneath …. But with no roof . No planning problems with the height of the stand , and it’d sort the real support from the snowflakes in the winter months .

Enjoyed reading the recent comments and the depth of detail a lot of the posts have gone into.

I've always felt we need to move away from BP.  This season had slightly brought me back round to thinking that we could just maybe stay here and make it work.  But having read the post that highlights the actual problems that BP presents in terms of access and facilities, I'm back in the move away camp.

BP does have great memories but we can't be led by them.  Like it or not, people want to drive to games and park as close as possible.  We can argue until the end of time regards where to park and if it's actually an issue for individuals, but for enough people it is an issue.  Be it we stay or we move, that issue will need addressing.  Park and Ride is great but you have to make it appealing to people.  No-one wants to park 5 miles from the ground, spend 40 minutes on a bus stuck in traffic and then spend an hour post game waiting to get on a bus back to their hemmed in car park.

For my mind, if I was to drive in from a distance I would be looking at Grant Street as a simple near guarantee of getting parked easily.  It's a simple walk along the sea wall and then over the, dare I say it, slightly more appealing new bridge at Suggits Lane.  Same on the way out and you miss most of the traffic leaving the ground, plus with option of shimmying about to miss anything that builds up around Isaac's Hill on the way out.   But when it's blowing a gale and the tide is slamming against the sea wall, I can see a lot of people not fancying that.  Equally so on evening games.  Personally I think that sounds like bliss but each to their own.  

If it is to a be a Town Centre approach and Freeman Street isn't the option, I do wonder how long some of the retail parks have left in them.  Specifically Alexandrea Retail park.  That's a huge area surrounded partly by car showrooms, that tend to be more out of the town centre area anyway.    Would need some work doing for traffic to flow into the 180 rather than using the existing road set-up.  

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

Latest idea . Knock the main down and build a raised terrace / seated stand with modern facilities such as changing rooms and a huge supporters bar underneath …. But with no roof . No planning problems with the height of the stand , and it’d sort the real support from the snowflakes in the winter months .

The poor souls in an open terrace mainstand come December through to February. There'll be a few frozen pensioners to chip out of their seats come full time

How long does the Main Stand have before a serious renovation is necessary?  If it's no longer safe to display advertising boards on its roof, surely it's only a matter of time before a new roof, at least, is going to be required?  

If we're going to be at BP in 10 years' time, which let's be honest we probably are, then this work should be carried out sooner rather than later.  We've put it off for too long in pursuit of a new stadium and we're now between a rock and hard place.  Both renovation and relocation are going to be expensive.  Although, if a full renovation of BP is going to cost upwards of £10m, then surely building a new stadium is preferable?  If we're going to be taking on debt either way, I'd rather have the increased revenue opportunities of a new facility.

At the end of the day it's all about finance. There's been some grand schemes suggested, but it all down to cost, pure and simple. At least we have the right people in charge to take us forwards, whatever the direction.