is stadium expansion under jeopardy

[Fungus]

However, a broad-based campaign, with a slogan of 'better not bigger', that focused on making the whole Amex experience better for all fans would gather significant support.

Compared to a "better AND bigger" campaign?

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

The catering queues and their effect on stadium expansion is not something the council would have any interest in.

However, back to the OP's post - it's along similar lines to conversations I've had with my councillor. The City Council wants the transport issues sorted out much better than they are now, and wants a clear sustainable plan delivered before any planning application for capacity increase is approved.

As an answer to the question of whether stadium expansion is in jeopardy, the club and the council officers will have plenty of meetings in order to come to a mutually acceptable plan before the application goes before the planning committee.

Absolutely. A sustainable transport plan was the clear message from the Racecourse P&R planning committee meeting and the absence of such was the main reason it only received temporary approval.
The club has to come up with a transport plan for the additional 8000 or whatever, show that it's plausable/workable based on actual experience to date (eg no "all away fans will travel by coach" nonsense) and not p**s the council about by largely relying on the officers to sort it out, as it did for much of the current TMP.

 

[fosters headband]

When the transpost issues were first looked at I was under the impression that the club had a figure of the amount of people that would get too and leave the ground in this manner.
So if this was included in the transport plan, where is the designated drop off and pick up point identified by the club?

 

[Bold Seagull]

They are applying for the permission to expand the stadium that if granted will last at least 3 years. They may not implement the work straight away, but they are surely doing the right thing in getting the permission secured.

We are not even out of September, we've had just 7 competitive home fixtures, I think there are too many people getting on their high horse about issues that will take a bit of time to be resolved, and work through. I've missed out on some beers in the queues, had a couple of shockers getting home, but I've loved every game so far, and attend knowing it will just get better and better.

 

[B.W.]

They are applying for the permission to expand the stadium that if granted will last at least 3 years. They may not implement the work straight away, but they are surely doing the right thing in getting the permission secured.

We are not even out of September, we've had just 7 competitive home fixtures, I think there are too many people getting on their high horse about issues that will take a bit of time to be resolved, and work through. I've missed out on some beers in the queues, had a couple of shockers getting home, but I've loved every game so far, and attend knowing it will just get better and better.

This...

 

[Davemania]

Of all the things that might impact expansion I'd have thought that dealing with cars hanging about on A27 would have been the easiest

Yes just shoot the drivers that do it

 

[Mr Burns]

Cars waiting / stopping on the A27 is already illegal. The whole of the A27 is a Clearway - as is the A270 from the bypass junction all the way down Lewes Road as far as Natal Road. If it's a problem, enforcement action can be taken against drivers who stop.

I've seen cars "stopping " on the A27 and dropping people off, and its the one of the biggest misquotes yet!

I park in the Uni, and the A27 is backed up to the roundabout at the top of the hill, back passed the slip road that joins from Coldean. This happens at rush hour every single day of the week, not just football days, and all that it happening is when the cars are back up and stationary, people are jumping out.

There is no tend of cars stopping on the A27 to drop people off. That makes it sound that poeple are stopping in 70mph traffic and causing backups, and thats not the case. People are simply jumping out of stationary cars, stuck in queues.

What needs to happen is they need to address the issue of the double roundabout on the fly over of Falmer Road, but not because of the football, but because of the volume of traffic every day.

 

[Gangsta]

I was just behind a few private cars that dropped off in the bus bay and also some taxis that didnt even bother with the bay on tuesday night, meaning cars behind in the creeping lane up to the falmer / woodingdean road junction were having to go round them into a "fast" lane of a duel carraigeway whilst being almost stationary - this will cause a fatal accident if allowed to continue. I am amazed at the stupidity and ignorance of drivers in this country all the time. These twats give no thought for other road users. Cut their heads off.

 

[Doc Lynam]

Create shuttle points and expand the road by one lane, going over the hill from Falmer to Rottingdean, but make it a bus only lane like on London rd coming into town. Also extend the slip road coming of for Sussex University into an extra bus lane. One bus lane working in both directions would ease traffic significantly. Create jobs and be a sound investment for club and council.

Create 3 or 4 shuttle parks on match day's only, for example one at Withdean stadium, another at Maderia drive near the Marina. Close Mill Hill again and use that as a Shuttle point straight onto the bypass. Charge people a quid to park car thus paying for the security. And two quid for a return ticket. Kids for a quid. Ideally it would be on council ground so the money goes back into the city. But long term there needs to be a shuttle train service, the council should invest our tax pounds in that, if thats what the people want.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I've seen cars "stopping " on the A27 and dropping people off, and its the one of the biggest misquotes yet!

I park in the Uni, and the A27 is backed up to the roundabout at the top of the hill, back passed the slip road that joins from Coldean. This happens at rush hour every single day of the week, not just football days, and all that it happening is when the cars are back up and stationary, people are jumping out.

There is no tend of cars stopping on the A27 to drop people off. That makes it sound that poeple are stopping in 70mph traffic and causing backups, and thats not the case. People are simply jumping out of stationary cars, stuck in queues.

What needs to happen is they need to address the issue of the double roundabout on the fly over of Falmer Road, but not because of the football, but because of the volume of traffic every day.

That is fine, the people being 'dropped off' are in the car, and as you say it is probably not a problem to let them hop out when stationary. From my experience the real problem here is 'picking up' when cars are parked waiting in the A27 layby's for the people they are collecting. Once these layby's start to fill up, it really is creating an issue, and I'm not exaggerating that I've seen a few near misses from the safety of my P bus along that stretch of A27. If you don't believe me, there are a few new black rubber strips on the tarmac as evidence!

 

[Driver8]

I've seen cars "stopping " on the A27 and dropping people off, and its the one of the biggest misquotes yet!

I park in the Uni, and the A27 is backed up to the roundabout at the top of the hill, back passed the slip road that joins from Coldean. This happens at rush hour every single day of the week, not just football days, and all that it happening is when the cars are back up and stationary, people are jumping out.

There is no tend of cars stopping on the A27 to drop people off. That makes it sound that poeple are stopping in 70mph traffic and causing backups, and thats not the case. People are simply jumping out of stationary cars, stuck in queues.

What needs to happen is they need to address the issue of the double roundabout on the fly over of Falmer Road, but not because of the football, but because of the volume of traffic every day.

There are definitely people, taxis included, that are stopping in the slip road to let people out and then cutting back in to the moving traffic. This is dangerous and holds up the traffic actually trying to exit the A27.

You also get the usual queue jumping arseholes blocking the inside lane by trying to force their way in at the front of the sliproad queue.

Bollards or cones between the slip road and A27 would stop both of these actions and fairly simple I would have thought.

 

[Simster]

I've seen cars "stopping " on the A27 and dropping people off, and its the one of the biggest misquotes yet!

I park in the Uni, and the A27 is backed up to the roundabout at the top of the hill, back passed the slip road that joins from Coldean. This happens at rush hour every single day of the week, not just football days, and all that it happening is when the cars are back up and stationary, people are jumping out.

There is no tend of cars stopping on the A27 to drop people off. That makes it sound that poeple are stopping in 70mph traffic and causing backups, and thats not the case. People are simply jumping out of stationary cars, stuck in queues.

What needs to happen is they need to address the issue of the double roundabout on the fly over of Falmer Road, but not because of the football, but because of the volume of traffic every day.

That simply isn't always the case. All too often, people jump out just as the queue is about to start moving again. It causes delays. That sliproad is NOT a valid drop off area.

 

[mwrpoole]

Well i get the bus back to Lewes after the match and it was noticeable on Friday that there were far more cars on the 'Station' side of the A27 waiting for pick ups, as well as quite a few taxi's picking up. The A27 is probably fairly quiet on a Friday night at 10pm but they get in the way of buses trying to stop at the station and seeing as all the P&R buses come down the slip road it'd be the last place i would wait to pick someone up! On the Lewes side of the road not as many cars waiting but still quite a few and it amuses me that they wait in the bus stop, which seeing as there's a big Q for the bus might suggest that a bus is about to turn up...

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

Could an additional slip road be built to the car park ? reduce capacity for disabled drivers only and use freed space for more Park and ride. Also Village way could be closed to traffic other than bus/taxi/permit one hour before and after game. Also have a designated car pick up drop off point at race hill P and R.

 

[Garage_Doors]

I think the main reason is that it's only quite recently that the number of people being dropped off / picked up on the A27 has risen to the point at which serious delays are being caused to buses and coaches (and other traffic). Now the problem has been identified, it needs to be dealt with, in the interests of those supporters who are being delayed by the illegal stoppers and waiters.

Thank you.

 

[Triggaaar]

However, a broad-based campaign, with a slogan of 'better not bigger', that focused on making the whole Amex experience better for all fans would gather significant support.

I doubt it. Better AND bigger, yes. Seriously, how many Brighton fans want to limit our progress by preventing expansion? That's just daft.

 

[paddy]

The queues for catering stopping expansion?
Do me a favour! they don't seem as long as the queues were at Withdean, with a much smaller capacity.

Also, let's not forget that the majority of the additional capacity would be housed in the East Upper which would, presumably, have its own concourse. The rest of the additional capacity would be taken by the two larger stands since there will be fewer seats in the North Stand corners for access reasons. Sure, it may well take a couple of additional minutes to get your half time pint and pie, but I'm sure this is a price most Albion fans would happily pay so that an extra 8000 can see the games.

 

[somerset]

The transport system and catering staff are barely coping with the current number of people they have to deal with.
Right now, if expansion was on the agenda. it would be very easy to mobilise support behind a campaign saying we need a better Amex stadium, not a bigger Amex stadium.

Firstly the transport system and the catering is fine,.... stop making broad assumptions, I have had no issues at all,... max wait at station 15 mins,... max wait for pint/pie, less than 10 mins. Secondly, I wouldnt join a campaign, nor would anyone I know.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I doubt it. Better AND bigger, yes. Seriously, how many Brighton fans want to limit our progress by preventing expansion? That's just daft.

Ideally, yes, I think most fans would want the Amex to be both better AND bigger. However, should there be no significant improvement by New Year, when the cold weather will have set in, there would be severe doubt amongst many Albion supporters about whether the current catering company and transport services are able to provide for the current 21,500 supporters let alone manage the expansion to cope with 30,000 supporters. Expansion would then be seen as something that would be likely to lead to a deterioration of existing services. That's when a 'better not bigger Amex' campaign, focusing on solutions to existing problems, could become viable. I agree, though, that with the club enjoying a honeymoon period, we are not in that situation just yet.

 

[Giraffe]

I'm surprised at the opening comment. The A27 is getting badly held up for evening games but I don't think it's people dropping off on the dual carriageway, it's just weight of numbers and the amount of people going off at the Falmer turn off. Not sure what can be done about this other than work on the slip roads into Falmer to get more cars quicker on and off.