Rovers Get The Go Ahead For Stadium

[DancinDannyD]

I am in support of both clubs getting new grounds.......this City needs a kick up the ass, we are collectively the laughing stock around the country with our second rate grounds, crap sporting facilities, no concert venues etc etc

I believe SL will win the day in the not so distant future, perhaps the SGC decision today will shame those idiots at BCC into making the right one next time

Really? BCC granted planning permission for both Ashton Vale and Sainsburys ... ??

[Totender08]

Not strictly right otherwise the diggers would be there as we speak

[DancinDannyD]

Not strictly right otherwise the diggers would be there as we speak

What part isn't right? There was a legal challenge and BCC clearly didn't follow due process on the whole Town Green application, but there was no lack of willingness to support both schemes.

Remember the jubilation from the Council when we 'thought' the legal challenge had been dropped?

[AtyeoRed]

If the land at Ashton Vale is a so say Town Green, and cannot be built on,

Then the Mem is a War Memorial and should not be built............... AAYYYY now there's a thought...I wonder how you go about getting it classed

[WuTang]

Who gives a ****?

Good luck to them.

We are City.

Ashton Gate or Ashton Vale.... we are still City.

Likewise the gas will still be the gas whether it's Eastville, Trumpton, Mem or UWE.

Our frustration in this case needs to be focused on where next for us.... be it Ashton Vale or a redeveloped Ashton Gate.. Or god forbid a plan C!?!

[Tall King Blox]

Scuse me but who the frig are Rovers, never heard of them, ???

[friendlygas]

AtyeoRed why dont you just concentrate on your own teams plans instead of jealously looking at ways to ransack ours. Lets be honest we are in completely different situations because YOU still have the option of redeveloping Ashton Gate and can afford it even if the Ashton Vale Ground can't be built on. We do not really have that option because we don't have a Steve Lansdown. To be honest I don't really think there is a great deal wrong with your present Stadium.It has an adequate capacity,is capable of holding concerts as it has done and is a real football stadium unlike the Mem As regards your point it is only the gates of the Memorial Ground that are a war memorial and the Sainsbury plan includes a War Memorial Park including the gates.Do you honestly think that in years to come the entire stadium would have to stay there because of a war memorial?

I have to be honest and cannot really see why the residents of Ashton Vale are creating such a fuss as your ground is hardly any distance from the new land but it is very similar to many years ago with the land at Emerson Green which we were trying to build a stadium on..it was total wasteland similar to Ashton Vale but the few residents that were there started planting flowers on there and claimed it was a nature reserve!! Well look what they got now.....loads and loads of houses!!!

[Tall King Blox]

Calm down people ! tis no use throwing shite around, good luck to that team and their fans, maybe it will set the wheels rolling for the rest of bristols pipedreams !

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

As regards your point it is only the gates of the Memorial Ground that are a war memorial and the Sainsbury plan includes a War Memorial Park including the gates.Do you honestly think that in years to come the entire stadium would have to stay there because of a war memorial?

Definately only the gates, yeah?

Positive about that?

Personally, I've got no problem with you getting a new ground inside or outside the city boundaries, however you should admit that there are some potentially sensitive issues re. the original intended use

for the site of the Memorial Ground (it wasn't to buy groceries btw). I'd have more respect for Gasheads if you acknowledged that the site was apparently donated to Bristol RFC as a place for sport to be played in memory of soldiers who died in WW1.......rather than trying to sweep it under the carpet as you just have in your post.

Maybe the Gas plan to incorporate a memorial at the UWE site, considering how fortunate they were to acquire the current Mem?

[tiz]

As regards your point it is only the gates of the Memorial Ground that are a war memorial and the Sainsbury plan includes a War Memorial Park including the gates.Do you honestly think that in years to come the entire stadium would have to stay there because of a war memorial?

Please do not take this the wrong way as I get your point and wish you luck ( but only with the ground ), but on a different tack the Mem was a place where I paid homage to some rugby greats ( even played there myself though far from great ), I would love money to come in so the ground can be rightly returned to the Rugby Club and players of Bristol. I beiive the ground was given to the people of Bristol for the playing of Rugby, in memory of fallen players.

I think the granting of two new Football grounds with facilities for other events would put Bristol on the map, and while I think Bristol has done many great things as a City recently, its time for us to make a statement to the rest of the country that we are not just a finacial industry powerhouse but a City going places.

[Former Pirate]

Whilst I'm happy with yesterday's news; I can't help but think that the Sainsbury's application was always going to be the difficult one.

If I'm honest it's always sat a little uneasy with me that we are disrespecting the memory of fallen rugby players in the wars by building a bloody great supermarket on it. It appears though that at least the proposal from Sainsbury's retains some element of a memorial garden.

The real problem here is how backward Bristol City Council are. Although our new proposed site would appear a near-perfect choice; it's a testament to how old fashioned BCC are that we had to leave the city limits (which personally I couldn't give a toss about. Going north provided we are south of the M4 I couldn't care less). A forward thinking council would help its two football clubs gain their new stadiums by working with them rather than making it bloody difficult.

Genuinely hope Ashton Vale gets the green light; Bristol has been a footballing backwater for too long (relatively speaking) and a city this size should easily be able to support two big clubs in at least the second tier.

[DancinDannyD]

The Sainsburys plans at Horfield have the endorsement from the ex-Bristol Players Society, includes a raised Memorial Square incorporating the Bristol Rugby logo, and you could argue provides a more fitting memorial to the war dead as it will be a lot more 'obvious' as a Memorial and Services will continue to be held there.

It will also be visible to more people, I'd wager the majority of people passing the gates didn't even know what they signified previously.

There's certainly not a desecration of a war memorial as some have suggested elsewhere (not on this thread).

Sainsburys have been very sensitive in this respect, the 'Memorial' part of the site has been at the forefront of the plans.

I really can't believe those war heroes remembered by the Memorial would wish for the rugby club to remain in old decrepit facilities as time moves on. The Memorial is fitting and time moves on - the clubs need to progress.

[herman]

The Sainsburys plans at Horfield have the endorsement from the ex-Bristol Players Society, includes a raised Memorial Square incorporating the Bristol Rugby logo, and you could argue provides a more fitting memorial to the war dead as it will be a lot more 'obvious' as a Memorial and Services will continue to be held there.

It will also be visible to more people, I'd wager the majority of people passing the gates didn't even know what they signified previously.

There's certainly not a desecration of a war memorial as some have suggested elsewhere (not on this thread).

Sainsburys have been very sensitive in this respect, the 'Memorial' part of the site has been at the forefront of the plans.

I really can't believe those war heroes remembered by the Memorial would wish for the rugby club to remain in old decrepit facilities as time moves on. The Memorial is fitting and time moves on - the clubs need to progress.

never seen it put like that before, fair enough

i personally hope the stadia are both built - about time bristol and the region make some progress in this regard.

[weeble]

The real problem here is how backward Bristol City Council are. Although our new proposed site would appear a near-perfect choice; it's a testament to how old fashioned BCC are that we had to leave the city limits (which personally I couldn't give a toss about. Going north provided we are south of the M4 I couldn't care less). A forward thinking council would help its two football clubs gain their new stadiums by working with them rather than making it bloody difficult.

It's easy to blame the city council but why? A joint study by the council/Rovers/City in 2000 could find no developable sites that were practical within the city boundary. City have been given permission on a green belt site and Rovers have permission to redevelop a cramped site surrounded by houses. In planning terms it would have been easy to refuse both. They didn't and no planning application from either club has been turned down.

In reality Rovers have struggled because they didn't own a ground to use as collateral and City have fallen foul of town green legislation.

[Barrs Court Red]

Whats to stop City building at Temple Meads, then building the other developments somewhere else?

[MC RISK77]

Will the title South Gloucestershire Rovers make them the longest name in English football? Funny how they hammered us about being North Somerset City when the ground wasn't even in North Somerset and now they are going to leave Bristol themselves.

does it really matter

[weeble]

Whats to stop City building at Temple Meads, then building the other developments somewhere else?

Probably not enough land, City don't own it and the new arena (!?) is also supposed to go there.

[Barrs Court Red]

The arena's meant to be going further up. Too late now anyway, as it is an "enterprise zone" that will be filled with yet more offices; As seemingly Bristol doesn't have enough. Of course when that was available, the site on the other side of the river was meant to have an area on it.

How perfect if a stadium was built where the old sorting office is, with the other ancillary developments over the river, with an arena. Ah well.

Hengrove would have been good, the locals voted against it. The fruit market would of been good, but at that time the prefered framework for stadia looked for out of town sites.

[friendlygas]

In answer to the points on the War Memorial and where someone mentioned they "paid homage to Rugby greats.Did you not also pay homage to City greats at Ashton Gate? If Ashton Vale goes ahead then AG will be a supermarket so on that front there is no difference. The Memorial Gates are the "main" memorial and I am sure ,as some have put a Memorial Garden incorporating the gates is much better than an out dated stadium.

Had we not taken the opportunity to aqquire the stadium when the Rugby went bust do you really think whoever would have bought it would have kept the stadium or even the gates. Rather than a fortunate way of obtaining the ground,yes I would agree with you but was also a very astute piece of business. Do you think Steve Lansdown made it clear when he bought the Ashton Vale land that his intention was to build a Stadium there? I very much doubt it.

Anyway like all things we have to look to the future and surely ,in the end, both clubs will realise their dreams and have nice spanking new stadiums that a lot of other clubs will envy.

I must add that unlike the Memorial Stadium which is terrible I actually think that your ground is a nice stadium anyway with a good capacity and is a REAL Football stadium. Had Eastville Stadium still been owned by us I would have much preferred it to be developed and brought up to date rather than ever moving. I mean this in the context of perhaps many amongst you would PREFER to actually develop Ashton Gate?

[Guest]

In answer to the points on the War Memorial and where someone mentioned they "paid homage to Rugby greats.Did you not also pay homage to City greats at Ashton Gate? If Ashton Vale goes ahead then AG will be a supermarket so on that front there is no difference. The Memorial Gates are the "main" memorial and I am sure ,as some have put a Memorial Garden incorporating the gates is much better than an out dated stadium.

Had we not taken the opportunity to aqquire the stadium when the Rugby went bust do you really think whoever would have bought it would have kept the stadium or even the gates. Rather than a fortunate way of obtaining the ground,yes I would agree with you but was also a very astute piece of business. Do you think Steve Lansdown made it clear when he bought the Ashton Vale land that his intention was to build a Stadium there? I very much doubt it.

Anyway like all things we have to look to the future and surely ,in the end, both clubs will realise their dreams and have nice spanking new stadiums that a lot of other clubs will envy.

I must add that unlike the Memorial Stadium which is terrible I actually think that your ground is a nice stadium anyway with a good capacity and is a REAL Football stadium. Had Eastville Stadium still been owned by us I would have much preferred it to be developed and brought up to date rather than ever moving. I mean this in the context of perhaps many amongst you would PREFER to actually develop Ashton Gate?

I'm sure most would prefer but the simple answer is its far more expensive to do it than build new. Just as it was to redevelop the mem

[SJC]

Genuinely hope Ashton Vale gets the green light; Bristol has been a footballing backwater for too long (relatively speaking) and a city this size should easily be able to support two big clubs in at least the second tier.

Indeed.

Very much hope you're stadium goes through as, clearly, I do with Ashton Vale.

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

In answer to the points on the War Memorial and where someone mentioned they "paid homage to Rugby greats.Did you not also pay homage to City greats at Ashton Gate? If Ashton Vale goes ahead then AG will be a supermarket so on that front there is no difference. The Memorial Gates are the "main" memorial and I am sure ,as some have put a Memorial Garden incorporating the gates is much better than an out dated stadium.

Had we not taken the opportunity to aqquire the stadium when the Rugby went bust do you really think whoever would have bought it would have kept the stadium or even the gates. Rather than a fortunate way of obtaining the ground,yes I would agree with you but was also a very astute piece of business. Do you think Steve Lansdown made it clear when he bought the Ashton Vale land that his intention was to build a Stadium there? I very much doubt it.

Regarding Ashton Gate, to the best of my knowledge it wasn't donated to any sports club to be used as a 'sporting memorial' unlike the Mem (or so I'm lead to believe).

If, as you say, somebody else had bought the ground from Bristol RFC and tried to develop on the land I would've felt exactly the same, it's not an anti Rovers thing, it's an anti developing on a war memorial thing.

As I say, I'm not against you getting the UWE site however as a sports club I would like your fans (as some do) to at least acknowledge that it appears the whole site at the current Mem is a memorial and for the club to acknowledge this piece of Bristol history at the new UWE stadium. I don't think that's an unreasonable viewpoint.

Regarding Steve Lansdown revealing his plans for AV when he purchased the site, I don't know if he did or he didn't....I wasnt involved in any negotiations, however WHY would he need to tell anyone what he planned for the land? You would still have to get planning permission anyway.

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

Whilst I'm happy with yesterday's news; I can't help but think that the Sainsbury's application was always going to be the difficult one.

If I'm honest it's always sat a little uneasy with me that we are disrespecting the memory of fallen rugby players in the wars by building a bloody great supermarket on it. It appears though that at least the proposal from Sainsbury's retains some element of a memorial garden.

Genuinely hope Ashton Vale gets the green light; Bristol has been a footballing backwater for too long (relatively speaking) and a city this size should easily be able to support two big clubs in at least the second tier.

Obviously I don't know you however you have always come across as a really decent level headed poster from the 'opposition' on here. Im pleased for Gasheads like yourself (and even FriendlyGas when he's not calling us all w**kers).

Good luck Fordingbridge Pirate........with the stadium obviously, not on the pitch ( I'm sure you understand mate).

[friendlygas]

Ted sheed I understand what you are saying as regards the War Memorial but we have to be realistic here and say for instance 50 years time I am sure you would agree that the Memorial ground standing as it is will look ridiculous however,of course,there is an alternative if Steve Lansdown (as he is such a lover of Bristol Sport) buys the ground off us at the same price as Sainsburys and develops it as a ground for Bristol Rugby Club. As regards the W-----s this was purely a reaction to some of the comments that appeared on here and not to all your supporters. I do actually respect the fact that you support your football club in the same way we support ours rather than tag on to a Premier League Club.At the end of the day I am blue through and through and you are red and long may that be.

[walnutroof657]

The biggest stumbling block here isn't the memorial gates that other people have suggested but that they are proposing another large supermarket in close proximity to two other large supermarkets i.e. tesco at eastville and golden hill. That combined with the the inevitable local protests mean i think it might be a struggle to get the approval needed.

Personally i feel Bristol needs these two stadiums to be built to drag its sporting facilities into the 21st century whether they are within the city limits or not is immaterial, like bristol needs a tram to be build instead of this ridiculous guided busway but thats a different argument

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

Ted sheed I understand what you are saying as regards the War Memorial but we have to be realistic here and say for instance 50 years time I am sure you would agree that the Memorial ground standing as it is will look ridiculous.

Totally agree and in its current state without any modernisation it wouldn't be a very fitting memorial to any sportsman.

This is why I think Rovers have an excellent opportunity to show a bit of class by taking the 'sporting memorial' bit of the stadium, for the want of a better description, to the new UWE site (a bit like creating a 'New Mem', if you like). Maybe you intend to do this anyway, I don't know.

As long as you're not pissing on anyone's graves I hope you get the new stadium as soon as possible. Not only will it hopefully shame the people holding up our stadium plans but I can start winding up my brother in law about City being the only team in Bristol.

[DancinDannyD]

Ted sheed I understand what you are saying as regards the War Memorial but we have to be realistic here and say for instance 50 years time I am sure you would agree that the Memorial ground standing as it is will look ridiculous however,of course,there is an alternative if Steve Lansdown (as he is such a lover of Bristol Sport) buys the ground off us at the same price as Sainsburys and develops it as a ground for Bristol Rugby Club. As regards the W-----s this was purely a reaction to some of the comments that appeared on here and not to all your supporters. I do actually respect the fact that you support your football club in the same way we support ours rather than tag on to a Premier League Club.At the end of the day I am blue through and through and you are red and long may that be.

Higgs has already said that even if SL offered double what Sainsburys are paying then it wouldn't matter. All of the legal agreements between the Gas, UWE and Sainsburys have already been signed and are binding pending both schemes receiving Planning Permission.

Yesterdays news means that only the Sainsburys application remains, so if that is approved whether or not anybody likes it, the rugby club will have to move. Whether that be to the Gate, the Vale or UWE remains to be seen.

The only hope for the rugby club should Planning Permission for the Sainsburys be approved is that Sainsburys themselves agree to sell the plot back to Lansdown (and I would guess they would want a decent premium) - as the store is likely to be a cash cow for them I can't see that happening.

[friendlygas]

DancinDannyO,sorry i should have put if the Sainsbury bid fails.

[Manon]

How perfect if a stadium was built where the old sorting office is, with the other ancillary developments over the river, with an arena. Ah well.

I don't how many times it has to be said: the piece of lands not big enough.

Talking of size, I noticed on one of the rovers stadium design statements that the building will measure 202m by 166m, which is very big indeed. Certainly much larger than most stadium footprints, especially bland bowl type arenas with comparable capacities . I realise these dimensions include the gym/corporate/conference facilities which extend from two of the for stands, but still it seems disproportionately large.

[In the Net]

Personally i feel Bristol needs these two stadiums to be built to drag its sporting facilities into the 21st century whether they are within the city limits or not is immaterial, like bristol needs a tram to be build instead of this ridiculous guided busway but thats a different argument

Spot on - wouldn't it be fantastic for the area to have two great stadiiums, and to stop being regarded as 2nd rate as far as professional football is concerned.