Green's blocking Amex expansion plans? Steve Bassam

[Mileoakman]

I can't see a problem, then.

Possibly but how long is this Travel Survey going to take. Unless this is done quickly then it could be that the expansion is put back a season. After all they have to appoint consultants, agree the terms of reference, do the survey, have it talked about for ever, etc, etc. before even agreeing the planning permission. Presumably the work can only realistically be done in the close season which means things have got to happen PDQ and I wouldn't imagine the builders are going to be twiddling their thumbs outside the ground waiting for the green light.

 

[Tory Boy]

If the club and the Greens are happy, then that's a very good thing.

If the Greens wobbled a bit, then so be it. All credit to them for seeing the bigger picture.

TB

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Possibly but how long is this Travel Survey going to take. Unless this is done quickly then it could be that the expansion is put back a season. After all they have to appoint consultants, agree the terms of reference, do the survey, have it talked about for ever, etc, etc. before even agreeing the planning permission. Presumably the work can only realistically be done in the close season which means things have got to happen PDQ and I wouldn't imagine the builders are going to be twiddling their thumbs outside the ground waiting for the green light.

Break this down into its component parts.

There is nothing to stop the Council's planning committee approving the expansion plans, "subject to a satisfactory agreement" being reached on the transport arrangements to accommodate the extra numbers. This would allow building work to go ahead.

If the transport arrangements are eventually agreed, this will allow the extra seats to be used. If the transport arrangements can't be sorted out, the Club will have to leave seats unsold until they can be.

It's up to the Club to decide whether to take the risk. I guess The Lizard has faced this sort of gamble before.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Break this down into its component parts.

There is nothing to stop the Council's planning committee approving the expansion plans, "subject to a satisfactory agreement" being reached on the transport arrangements to accommodate the extra numbers. This would allow building work to go ahead.

If the transport arrangements are eventually agreed, this will allow the extra seats to be used. If the transport arrangements can't be sorted out, the Club will have to leave seats unsold until they can be.

It's up to the Club to decide whether to take the risk. I guess The Lizard has faced this sort of gamble before.

'eating an elephant' build & simply release them 2,000 every 3 months. No issues, next batch

 

[fosters headband]

Indeed...

CarolineLucas Caroline Lucas
[MENTION=5978]bhafc[/MENTION]tweets For the record, I'm 100% in favour of expansion of the ground - #bhafc is huge success story for city, & I fully support it

Nice bit of bandwagon jumping by Caroline here.
Just like her attack on the government in the Argus this week about pensioners losing part of their heating allowance and the hardship it will cause them. I did not see her attacking her fellow councillors on the effect the rate increases will have on the same pensioners

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Break this down into its component parts.

There is nothing to stop the Council's planning committee approving the expansion plans, "subject to a satisfactory agreement" being reached on the transport arrangements to accommodate the extra numbers. This would allow building work to go ahead.

If the transport arrangements are eventually agreed, this will allow the extra seats to be used. If the transport arrangements can't be sorted out, the Club will have to leave seats unsold until they can be.

It's up to the Club to decide whether to take the risk. I guess The Lizard has faced this sort of gamble before.

The seats do not need planning permission, they can go in tomorrow as it's all internal works and can't be controlled by planning. Its any attendance above 22,500 that we're not allowed so we'd have just a nice bunch of useless seats. It's not much of a financial risk installing them now as planning permission will be granted eventually (that is if the Club are certain they will sell enough of them to make the financial outlay worthwhile when planning permission is finally granted).

I expect the economic case will be too great for the Council to refuse outright but some restrictions might be made on attendance levels dependent on more parking being made available. So maybe 4,000 extra now, 4,000 when more parking is provided.

The transport surveys must have already been carried out it's to be submitted next week.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The transport surveys must have already been carried out it's to be submitted next week.

They've certainly done some counting of current travel patterns. But the Joint Statement says:- "We have agreed that a travel survey for a 30,000-seater stadium will be produced by independent consultants for the Stadium Transport Management Group and funded by the Albion. The terms of reference will be produced jointly by the club and the council". This suggests there's more work to be done.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

They've certainly done some counting of current travel patterns. But the Joint Statement says:- "We have agreed that a travel survey for a 30,000-seater stadium will be produced by independent consultants for the Stadium Transport Management Group and funded by the Albion. The terms of reference will be produced jointly by the club and the council". This suggests there's more work to be done.

Interesting, I didn't see that. I don't expect it'll delay the application in any case. If need be the independent surveys can be carried out whilst the application is being determined.

 

[Acker79]

Some work is already in hand. Next week, for instance, the council is talking to the Department of Transport to discuss funding for bus priority measures in the Lewes Road, which could greatly help bus flow on match days.

Bus lanes all the way along lewes road to the universities? How will car drivers feel about that? Currently only the small section by the bus depot - pizza hut delivery thing.

 

[Diego Napier]

Exactly this. Her share of the vote is going to increase, and I reckon the green vote in neighbouring wards will too. HB&B campaining for the Tories is a trivial but amusing string to her bow, and she can only hope (in vain) that someone as fuckwitted can "assist" the Labour campaign in the same way.

Whoa, steady on! That's surely a bit harsh on those whose wits have been f***ed?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Jason Kitcat is still not quite on board.

Brighton and Hove Greens deny scoring own goal against Albion Brighton and Hove News


Cllr Jason Kitcat
December 8, 2011 at 10.05 pm

“Under the deal the club would have paid for the old Falmer High School buildings to be demolished, built new premises for The Bridge Community Centre and match-day parking for 1,000 cars.”

As a Cabinet member all I can say is that never was the proposal on offer in the 6 months since Greens took control of the council. There have been negotiations over temporary proposals involving some of what the report suggests. But they were proposals which didn’t permanently resolve the issues for the Club nor The Bridge. We are working with them to find decent permanent solutions, not short term sticking plaster fixes.

There is a lot of uncertainty around the buildings to be demolished due to asbestos, for example. There is nothing tied up with a bow just waiting for approval. I’m sorry Labour politicians have sought to play on the hopes and fears of the fans in attempt to score points. The joint statement with the Club shows how seriously Greens take these issues for our city.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

If the club and the Greens are happy, then that's a very good thing.

If the Greens wobbled a bit, then so be it. All credit to them for seeing the bigger picture.

TB

Ah.....Lucasade aids recovery!

Especially of potentially damaging and bonkers local council proposals.

 

[Foster House]

Lord Bassam has gone into overdrive on his tweeting against the Greens. What is telling is how he accuses them of being anti-car but then says 'We should aim to maximise numbers travelling by sustainable transport to the Amex'.

It appears also that he has been speaking with The Argus (who have a strong Labour bias) too.

I just think that NSC has been a pawn for him in all this. It appears that the Greens aren't so anti expansion after all, but some elements in political and media circles would have us believe they are a threat to the club.

I remember Brighton under Lord Bassam (he was council leader for about 3 terms). He is a politican, and a clever one.

We should never assume they are just thinking for us. Remember there is a marginal by-election coming up....

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

We all want the extra seats at the Amex but the transport infrastructure has to be there to support it.

A couple of nights ago I was at the Ajax v R. Madrid champs lge game in the Amsterdam arena. Very impressed by the ability to get a capacity crowd of 53k away so quickly. And there was no fire drill by the home support. No problem getting a seat on the first Metro train and were having a beer or two back in the city centre within 30mins of the final whistle. Mind you it does help that they have 12500 parking spaces, an 8 platform rail station and a bus station on site.....plus access to an M25 style ring road. Plus all city transport tickets are scannable so what queues there are keep moving as you just wave your ticket at the scanner each side of the door as you enter/exit the train/bus/tram etc. The stadium is part of a huge entertainments and shopping complex all operating at the same time as the footie......very impressive. Underlined to me the situation with The Amex, and what might be done to help, albeit on a smaller scale.

The footie was good too and the Ajax fans were magnificent, in full voice for the whole 90mins despite losing to Madrid and knowing that a bizarre score in the other group match would deny them a place in the next round. Good to see Ajax focusing on young home grown players who were technically superb but just tried too hard to walk the ball into the net. Ajax had hit the woodwork and twice appeared to have goals denied by a questionable ref. Madrid's 'B' team (inc. Kaka, Benzema & Alonso) easily caught them on the break for a comfortable 0-3 win. Great to see continental teams playing the 'Poyet way'. No long balls in sight. How good would CMS be if he had a 'Kaka' style playmaker to feed off. Made me want to see Vicente playing again very soon.

 

[Mackenzie]

Councillor Kitcat is doing a Q&A session on the Argus website at the moment.....it may be of interest to some.


Link: Live blog: Brighton and Hove budget question time From The Argus)

 

[Acker79]

Jason Kitcat is still not quite on board.

Brighton and Hove Greens deny scoring own goal against Albion Brighton and Hove News


Cllr Jason Kitcat
December 8, 2011 at 10.05 pm

“Under the deal the club would have paid for the old Falmer High School buildings to be demolished, built new premises for The Bridge Community Centre and match-day parking for 1,000 cars.”

As a Cabinet member all I can say is that never was the proposal on offer in the 6 months since Greens took control of the council. There have been negotiations over temporary proposals involving some of what the report suggests. But they were proposals which didn’t permanently resolve the issues for the Club nor The Bridge. We are working with them to find decent permanent solutions, not short term sticking plaster fixes.

There is a lot of uncertainty around the buildings to be demolished due to asbestos, for example. There is nothing tied up with a bow just waiting for approval. I’m sorry Labour politicians have sought to play on the hopes and fears of the fans in attempt to score points. The joint statement with the Club shows how seriously Greens take these issues for our city.

Isn't that the website that HB&B writes for? Can we take it seriously?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Isn't that the website that HB&B writes for? Can we take it seriously?

That's like saying that Ernest posts on NSC and therefore everything that gets written here must be TRUE.

 

[Acker79]

That's like saying that Ernest posts on NSC and therefore everything that gets written here must be TRUE.

You mean it isn't?!

 

[KNC]

'The Argus have a strong Labour bias'........ Are you mad?
They are right of the Express and the Mail!!!

 

[DanielT]

[MENTION=13823]jason[/MENTION]kitcat Could it be because it is coon sense and one of Labours budget proposals that could help save Sure Start or Adult Social Care.

he tweeted later to say it should have been "commons sense" but... "ooh i say!"