'deal Struck' Over Ashton Vale

[Stoke_Gifford_Red]

Maybe this might be the start of SL pulling out of the club? Get his money back, build Ashton Gate and hand over. This way he's built his legacy and recouped his money.

I worry the same. Or at least SL may not subsidise city to the same degree (hence the big cuts etc). If I was cynical I may say once we lost the chance of getting to the premiership there is less chance of him getting money back through the riches that are there (possibly by selling the club to a rich foreigner ala Cardiff) and so there is less need for a super stadium.

[weeble]

Will the council have to buy back the land from SteveL, surely a person cannot own a village green. I guess it will be declared a village green in the future to stop the club building on there in future? As for housing, I'm not sure I'd want to live on a rubbish dump, so will that get passed. Where does this leave Sainsburys, nearer to the Mem I guess. The wickes land is a good shout, they are quite old buildings in the scheme of things, can't have much life left in them?

You can own a village/town green, it's status merely stops you building on it. There is absolutely no requirement for the council to buy the land. When SL bought land without planning permission, he was taking a calculated risk just like any developer. The risk was quite a large one, as the land was in the green belt.

[reddevon]

Very sad day indeed if this is the end of AV stadium.

Just a refreshher please,

I thought the legal issue was around the splitting of the "two sites" and not about the stadium or housing.

If so, this would still need to be resolved or we are back to square one with no Village Green designation, unless a new application is held.

Can the NIMBY's just apply for VG status on one part of the site (Southern part?), having applied and produced evidence that the whole site was used by them for village type events..

If they can and win will SL still make it a lush green haven for dog walkers and newts or will the Council need to buy it back?

Are North Somerset Council involved or was that just the road access or is the (Northern part?) of the site in their area?

I hope the ratepayers of Bristol don't have to stump up the legal costs of BCC if the VG enquiry is dropped.

I also feel sorry for the poor old Sainsburys' shoppers who have to continue to put up with that cramped Winterstoke Road store!

[Barrs Court Red]

Im sure there will be a statement from SL.. im also that certain parties will be fuming about yet another leak

[Harry]

As others have alluded to, I just don't see how this is a correct process.

In October, there is supposed to be a hearing which defines whether the land should be designated as a Village Green, which means it is essentially sacred ground and cannot be built on.

Yet, there seems to be an acceptance by the council that they will be able to allow the building of housing on the land?

Well, if the council don't need to go through a TVG hearing to build houses on the land, why is there an acceptance that they have to go through a TVG hearing to build a stadium on the land.

It's massive double standards on the part of the council and of the campaigners and, as has been said, clear evidence that this is all about a NO Stadium agenda. Utter, utter bullshite from the lot of them.

I only hope SL is able to cut a highly profitable deal for himself and a highly prolific deal for BCFC.

Again, as has been raised, let's hope he bargains for a compulsory purchase order of the dozen or so houses behind the Atyeo, buys up the industrial units behind the Williams and persuades the council to knock down Nelson Mandela House and rehouse the residents at Ashton Vale.

This will provide City with a huge footprint for stadium expansion, and if this could be agreed as part of this bargaining, then we might see a whole different set of plans drawn up and passed through. I doubt this will happen though, but in an ideal world this is what SL should be pushing for.

[GrahamC]

Hugely depressing.

The non Bristolian NIMBYs have won.

[ciderup]

Im sure there will be a statement from SL.. im also that certain parties will be fuming about yet another leak

I would like to hear one sooner rather than later as I cannot see any benefit to the club in agreeing to this deal or as much as we know at the moment.

We had the chance to build something unique, 'the best medium sized ground in the country' I think it was called and we are settling for the redevelopment which leaves us as a footballing backwater ad infinitum.

SL was going to fight until the bitter end. 'This stadium WILL be built', Dave L telling us on here that the redevelopment was 'very much a plan B and it was all systems go on the Vale'. All spin and essentially we've been fed a load of bollox!

I am genuinely gutted about this.

[RedM]

You can own a village/town green, it's status merely stops you building on it. There is absolutely no requirement for the council to buy the land. When SL bought land without planning permission, he was taking a calculated risk just like any developer. The risk was quite a large one, as the land was in the green belt.

Didn't know that, Thankyou. I suppose the term village green conjures up a picture the opposers have tried to portray, ie a piece of land owned by the community and used by the community. I don't know what has happened since he bought it, has it been fenced off or have people been allowed to have all their 'usual activities'. What happens in the future if it gets village green status, is he alone responsible for keeping it clear of travellers, what happens if there is a fire or other hazards. Hardly seems fair if he has to maintain it but cannot use it. yes I appreciate planning permission was a gamble, but he must have been pretty certain the obstacles he faced weren't as big as they have turned out.

[timothy bird]

Spin? Surely not!

[ciderup]

Spin? Surely not!

Don't you just love sarcasm!

[beaverface]

I would like to hear one sooner rather than later as I cannot see any benefit to the club in agreeing to this deal or as much as we know at the moment.

We had the chance to build something unique, 'the best medium sized ground in the country' I think it was called and we are settling for the redevelopment which leaves us as a footballing backwater ad infinitum.

SL was going to fight until the bitter end. 'This stadium WILL be built', Dave L telling us on here that the redevelopment was 'very much a plan B and it was all systems go on the Vale'. All spin and essentially we've been fed a load of bollox!

I am genuinely gutted about this.

Dave L also said that the club had concrete evidence that the northern part of the field couldnt be a village green.

Im just wondering if SL has had a heads up from the VG inspector!

[Aizoon]

Didn't know that, Thankyou. I suppose the term village green conjures up a picture the opposers have tried to portray, ie a piece of land owned by the community and used by the community. I don't know what has happened since he bought it, has it been fenced off or have people been allowed to have all their 'usual activities'. What happens in the future if it gets village green status, is he alone responsible for keeping it clear of travellers, what happens if there is a fire or other hazards. Hardly seems fair if he has to maintain it but cannot use it. yes I appreciate planning permission was a gamble, but he must have been pretty certain the obstacles he faced weren't as big as they have turned out.

So SL is solely responsible for keeping out travellers and, more important, for going to the courts to get them removed. Simple, Steve. Do neither.

See how the NIMBYs like that

[RedM]

I'm not sure how housing plans could possibly be passed and a stadium ( used for a few hours a week) cannot.

Solution. We build a stadium with a few houses built in to it, the pitch could be a communal garden, desperate measures!

[Gol]

Disappointed with this tbh. When speaking to Dave L at the redevelopment he said Lansdown was going to keep fight regardless what way the desicion on the inspector took. However did say we would be looking to start building at the end of this season whether it be AG or AV. Shame as I thought AV was by far the better option. Though once again a building project which would benefit Bristol has been scupperedby a few selfish, short sighted people.

[Northamptonshire Red]

A sad indictment of how small minded and selfish some people can be in this country. This whole grand notion that green belt is some sort of magical land which is to be absolutely protected at all costs is nonsense. A tiny fraction of this country is built upon, somewhere around 8%, so the idea that it's something sacred is rubbish.

The cold hard truth of this is the locals didn't want the stadium there and used the green/conservation argument to block the development. What's even more disappointing that many of these NIMBYs aren't even from the area originally. Very sad indeed.

[ciderup]

We won't even have the biggest ground in the South West anymore as league 2 Plymouth will have a bigger ground (27k) once their new grandstand is built.

Mediocrity, meh.

[Manon]

Let's hope they can't delay the jr, and the decision goes our way then!

Talking of the redevelopment of AG, it'll all happen pretty quickly. Eight months from now the EE will be torn down, and we'll witness the stadium in a constant state of metamorphosis before our eyes until completion.

[GoingUp]

Perhaps the 'deal' could include an undertaking from the city council to issue CPOs on these properties. Would help the council out of the legal hole they've dug themselves into.

[GoingUp]

******* brilliant idea! Don't think youd be saying that if you lived there alfred.

[Br 1st ol]

2 points.

1. The evil post article is so badly constructed I cannot believe it was put together by a professional journalist. It does not explain or educate in any way at all. I am more confused and less enlightened than before reading it

2. There are lots of conclusions being drawn in this thread that simply cannot be justified on the basis of the Posts article. Either you all have more info from other media, or you have inside info.

What is the deal and who is it between?

We don't know, do we?

[exAtyeoMax]

they did mention it on Points West and it is on BBC news site

[Manon]

Agreed. But that's the post for you. So desperate to break the story first, that they didn't bother to work out exactly what the story was.

[Guest]

Gutted. Disappointed, disillusioned and down heartened.

Another PR disaster from the club, though we should all come to expect this now. At the start SL came out and said mark my(his) words that ground will be built. We then had the club assure us their evidence was strong and they were confident. We had Brighton come along and say it took us time but you can get there - good luck. We had the AG redevelopment plans and most knew what was ultimately coming but the club said categorically it was plan B.

We now have, out of the blue, the club waiving a flag, losing bottle and giving in to a bunch of despicable people. This will be cited as a victory for them and is a horrendous precedent - the club are imo duty bound to follow this through when you consider the above and ramifications for future developments and I'm sure could have got a pool of funding from developers to fight the battle as the victory would be a great precedent.

We are hindered at AG, we are limited in future options, and we are papering over cracks rather than building true foundations.

A new build is an incredible opportunity. It is a feel good factor. It is a new start. It is the chance to mould your own ground in your own image. As it is fresh it brings great profile, pr and great sponsorship opportunities. A redevelopment is like slowly opening your xmas present over years and will bring no excitement like going through the AV turnstiles for the first time.

I couldn't see AMEX buying in to Molineux once finished like they did at Brighton, regardless of opinions as to how desirable that is.

We have seemingly bottled and hit a u-turn with utter silence from the club.

I'm sure there are reasons why this decision has been made... But these should have been explained in a club statement breaking the story first. Not second hand giving the NIMBYs the soundbites they desperately want.

I said right at the start when the VG argument came up the club dropped a massive ball. To start with, whilst owned by an 'unknown' for unknown purposes, the entity should have granted grazing rights or something inconspicuous such as this so the site had been subject to commercial exploitation in past 20 years. Then the VG argument was dead.

When this failed and the arguement arose the club should have appointed a PR firm. Then we could have had professionals getting us national coverage. How much would the red tops love 'no jobs due to a landfill green' spin. Prescott ended up signing off Brighton and I'm sure a tory government fighting off crossrail challenges would have had words to say about this.

I can't help but think the boy was left to run this project and the boy failed spectacularly. The boy is still heading up our club and with similar pr gaffes being made, I worry about our direction at the top.

[Super]

Gutted. Disappointed, disillusioned and down heartened.

Another PR disaster from the club, though we should all come to expect this now. At the start SL came out and said mark my(his) words that ground will be built. We then had the club assure us their evidence was strong and they were confident. We had Brighton come along and say it took us time but you can get there - good luck. We had the AG redevelopment plans and most knew what was ultimately coming but the club said categorically it was plan B.

We now have, out of the blue, the club waiving a flag, losing bottle and giving in to a bunch of despicable people. This will be cited as a victory for them and is a horrendous precedent - the club are imo duty bound to follow this through when you consider the above and ramifications for future developments and I'm sure could have got a pool of funding from developers to fight the battle as the victory would be a great precedent.

We are hindered at AG, we are limited in future options, and we are papering over cracks rather than building true foundations.

A new build is an incredible opportunity. It is a feel good factor. It is a new start. It is the chance to mould your own ground in your own image. As it is fresh it brings great profile, pr and great sponsorship opportunities. A redevelopment is like slowly opening your xmas present over years and will bring no excitement like going through the AV turnstiles for the first time.

I couldn't see AMEX buying in to Molineux once finished like they did at Brighton, regardless of opinions as to how desirable that is.

We have seemingly bottled and hit a u-turn with utter silence from the club.

I'm sure there are reasons why this decision has been made... But these should have been explained in a club statement breaking the story first. Not second hand giving the NIMBYs the soundbites they desperately want.

I said right at the start when the VG argument came up the club dropped a massive ball. To start with, whilst owned by an 'unknown' for unknown purposes, the entity should have granted grazing rights or something inconspicuous such as this so the site had been subject to commercial exploitation in past 20 years. Then the VG argument was dead.

When this failed and the arguement arose the club should have appointed a PR firm. Then we could have had professionals getting us national coverage. How much would the red tops love 'no jobs due to a landfill green' spin. Prescott ended up signing off Brighton and I'm sure a tory government fighting off crossrail challenges would have had words to say about this.

I can't help but think the boy was left to run this project and the boy failed spectacularly. The boy is still heading up our club and with similar pr gaffes being made, I worry about our direction at the top.

Brilliant post.

[old_eastender]

Gutted. Disappointed, disillusioned and down heartened.

Another PR disaster from the club, though we should all come to expect this now. At the start SL came out and said mark my(his) words that ground will be built. We then had the club assure us their evidence was strong and they were confident. We had Brighton come along and say it took us time but you can get there - good luck. We had the AG redevelopment plans and most knew what was ultimately coming but the club said categorically it was plan B.

We now have, out of the blue, the club waiving a flag, losing bottle and giving in to a bunch of despicable people. This will be cited as a victory for them and is a horrendous precedent - the club are imo duty bound to follow this through when you consider the above and ramifications for future developments and I'm sure could have got a pool of funding from developers to fight the battle as the victory would be a great precedent.

We are hindered at AG, we are limited in future options, and we are papering over cracks rather than building true foundations.

A new build is an incredible opportunity. It is a feel good factor. It is a new start. It is the chance to mould your own ground in your own image. As it is fresh it brings great profile, pr and great sponsorship opportunities. A redevelopment is like slowly opening your xmas present over years and will bring no excitement like going through the AV turnstiles for the first time.

I couldn't see AMEX buying in to Molineux once finished like they did at Brighton, regardless of opinions as to how desirable that is.

We have seemingly bottled and hit a u-turn with utter silence from the club.

I'm sure there are reasons why this decision has been made... But these should have been explained in a club statement breaking the story first. Not second hand giving the NIMBYs the soundbites they desperately want.

I said right at the start when the VG argument came up the club dropped a massive ball. To start with, whilst owned by an 'unknown' for unknown purposes, the entity should have granted grazing rights or something inconspicuous such as this so the site had been subject to commercial exploitation in past 20 years. Then the VG argument was dead.

When this failed and the arguement arose the club should have appointed a PR firm. Then we could have had professionals getting us national coverage. How much would the red tops love 'no jobs due to a landfill green' spin. Prescott ended up signing off Brighton and I'm sure a tory government fighting off crossrail challenges would have had words to say about this.

I can't help but think the boy was left to run this project and the boy failed spectacularly. The boy is still heading up our club and with similar pr gaffes being made, I worry about our direction at the top.

Good points well made.

AG will always be a poor choice compared to what AV could have offered, AV should have been SLs legacy... sad day

[sephjnr]

To sum up Bristol in one sentence, the most ground-breaking, ambitious, far-reaching engineering project here in my lifetime remains... a shopping centre.

[exAtyeoMax]

there hasn't been an official statement from the club yet…

[eric04]

Doubt the club will comment. If we've done a potential deal with the village greeners we won't want to talk about it incase AG falls through, because then we will have to go to war with them again.

[Kingswood Robin]

If we're doing deals off the back of the council granting planning permission for Ashton Gate, isn't the time now right to force the councils hand into accepting some redevelopment of the Atyeo stand as well?

Yes there are rules stopping this, but there we're rules about changing applicants names on judicial review requests, but people worked around that.

[KeepUpLino]

Time for a change at the top???