Plans for the future

Quoted from DB

IStaying at BP would also mean there is no need for a car park as on-street has been a means for decades, and is only for 23/30 days a year.

Not sure i would agree there. Parking is awful now with 5-6k people turning up (even when we were only getting 3-4k it was bad). If we were to regenerate BP I assume that regeneration would come with at least a small increase in capacity. Cant help but feel like we would benefit from a multi storey somewhere close by to the stadium to help with that and give a dedicated area for disabled parking too.

Surely, if the stadium remains where it is, alternative travel methods would be best explored and promoted. A multi storey isn’t the answer, we shouldn’t be encouraging folk to drive to the football, hence why out of town/edge of town stadiums are horrible…big car parks with breeze block stadia.

I’m not sure parking is that bad, more then people acruslly parking, seen someone flipping horror shows this season so far. Doesn’t help when people turn up at 2pm and expect to get parked down Blundell Ave…

Quoted from Oly1987

Not sure i would agree there. Parking is awful now with 5-6k people turning up (even when we were only getting 3-4k it was bad). If we were to regenerate BP I assume that regeneration would come with at least a small increase in capacity. Cant help but feel like we would benefit from a multi storey somewhere close by to the stadium to help with that and give a dedicated area for disabled parking too.

The parking problem would be an issue if BP's capacity was increased. Any stand developments which lead to increased capacity would have to have planning permission - that is a fact. One of the factors that would be looked at by the planners is how the increased fan numbers would impact local parking. It would not be sufficient to say that local on-street parking has been ok for 20 to 30 years so it should be ok now for increased numbers. Alternative means to the use of private cars to get to the ground should be encouraged if we are to remain at BP but that is not as simple as some think. Park and Ride has been suggested but where would the car park be? It wouldn't benefit NE Lincs fans as most of the area is already supported by numerous bus routes..

We should absolutely be finding alternative ways of getting people to football than by car, whether we stay at BP or move.

You don’t necessarily need massive car parks but out by the Laceby Bypass and off the A180 there’s space. Maybe something by the A16 too. Have the buses stop along the route, if you put enough on. Even if not everyone is within walking distance of the route it’d make a big difference. Besides, they could drive to park close to the route, which at least would cut down on the parking problem near BP.

Quoted from rancido

The parking problem would be an issue if BP's capacity was increased. Any stand developments which lead to increased capacity would have to have planning permission - that is a fact. One of the factors that would be looked at by the planners is how the increased fan numbers would impact local parking. It would not be sufficient to say that local on-street parking has been ok for 20 to 30 years so it should be ok now for increased numbers. Alternative means to the use of private cars to get to the ground should be encouraged if we are to remain at BP but that is not as simple as some think. Park and Ride has been suggested but where would the car park be? It wouldn't benefit NE Lincs fans as most of the area is already supported by numerous bus routes..

Of course we had deemed planning consent for a much bigger capacity pre-all seater. What happened in the last seasons of 10k plus crowds in the early 80s - I think we just parked further away and walked.

Yes, planning conditions will be much tighter on parking now. They'll need to be a sustainable transport plan for any significant increase in capacity at BP.

Park and ride at Great Coates - train + extra buses? Would need to be used for much more than match days to be viable - also residents revolting again?

If you look at videos of traffic around Grimsby in the 80’s, there are some on YouTube, you’ll be surprised how little traffic there is compared to now.

I think that, to a large extent answers the parking question.

I don't think we should be swayed by previous attendances in our quest to redevelop BP or move away.

There are lots of clubs that had tiny attendances till they got on an upward curve, and football had a renaissance more generally.

Swansea, Brighton, Hull, Rotherham, Lincoln, Doncaster, Brentford, Bournemouth, Luton, Blackpool, Reading, Barnsley, Wigan to name a few.

It is the potential that counts. We have had big crowds before, and we can have big crowds in the future but it needs a well run and well-funded club ( we seem to have that now) success on the field to get us started (we are underway with that) and the ability to match ambition with the realities of funding a new stadium or re-developing BP (Mr Pettit seems the man for that)

On the assumption that if the previous regime was still in charge we have added circa 3,000 fans already even in non-league,  we have a great base to start from. We (the owners) need to judge it just right - a capacity that is not too small to hold us back, nor too big to be a burden. Personally, I think a capacity of 13k or thereabouts would be about right, assuming we can get a promotion or two.  

A ground with a smaller capacity that is full or almost full is better than a ground that’s massive and is barely ever full…

Create a desire and need for a ticket…mafia and dodgy dealings to one side, ask a legit Juve fan (oxymoron I know). Best thing they ever did was build a stadium with a small capacity…

Quoted from LH

We’ve probably got about 12,000 people worldwide who would go to BP every home if they could. The problem being that they’re worldwide and the ones who do live in this country perhaps wouldn’t travel up, down across every other week. I might be look at it a bit pessimistically but I think 12,000 seater is about right for a new/redeveloped ground.

I think your figures are maybe accurate, but out of date, only by one year. Fenty era yes, but we're in a totally different era now. Our club is now being viewed through a different lens by the folk of NE Lincs in a few short months. Crowds are up, but I bet every single current attendee can still think of at least one other person who hasn't been to a game yet. I'd imagine a new stadium would lure many others in, as would rising up the leagues.

12k for the three home stands would be reasonable, say 4k behind the goal and 4k more down both sides. But you have to add 4k behind the other goal for away fans and additional home fan flexibility. Any reasonable stint in the Championship, cup ties, or bigger clubs continuing to fall into League One, it would pay for itself in no time.

The difference in cost of building a 12, 14 or a 16k capacity stadium and managing it is neither here nor there. so we have to build to a best case possible income scenario. Why build a stadium when there's still a possibility of locking people out? As a set of fans, we seem to have an inherent and irrational fear of empty seats, not selling out away allocations etc

A 12k stadium will mean a 9K home capacity, 2/3k up from where it is now. That's very litlle scope for growth for JS and AP to work with imho..

Quoted from Bigdog

I think your figures are maybe accurate, but out of date, only by one year. Fenty era yes, but we're in a totally different era now. Our club is now being viewed through a different lens by the folk of NE Lincs in a few short months. Crowds are up, but I bet every single poster on here can still think of at least one other person who hasn't been to a game yet. I'd imagine a new stadium would lure many others in, as would rising up the leagues.

12k for the three home stands would be reasonable, say 4k behind the goal and 4k more down both sides. But you have to add 4k behind the other goal for away fans and additional home fan flexibility. Any reasonable stint in the Championship, cup ties, or bigger clubs continuing to fall into League One, it would pay for itself in no time.

The difference in cost of building a 12, 14 or a 16k capacity stadium and managing it is neither here nor there. so we have to build to a best case possible income scenario. Why build a stadium when there's still a possibility of locking people out? As a set of fans, we seem to have an inherent and irrational fear of empty seats, not selling out away allocations etc

A 12k stadium will mean a 9K home capacity, 2/3k up from where it is now. That's very litlle scope for growth for JS and AP to work with imho..

A 12k capacity doesn't have to mean a 9k home capacity. It could be designed in aa way to be able to split the away end if required for more or less home capacity, just as the osmond manages now.

Very very few teams would be needing a 4k visiting capacity, even in the chpionship they wouldn't all need that.

The ground could also be designed so that if a greater capacity than 12k was ever needed (unlikely in my opinion) then it would allow an extra tier for a couple more k to be added.