New Stadium and this weeks Thanet Times

[Marathon Man]

Todays Thanet Times states that the Council Planning Committee met last Thursday and that 500 objections have been received regarding the new development of the All Weather Artificial Pitch. It also states that the plans for the Travel Lodge are of a different design to the plans originally given planning permission in 2005 and that MFC will have to submit a completely new application which will require Full Public Consultation through the planning process.

 

Having read this article i now assume that the development work will not be starting at the end of March 2011 as was suggested on previous threads and statements from MFC. This leaves several more questions unanswered which hopefully somebody from the club can answer to enlighten the many supporters who are becoming tired of hearing excuses for endless delays over many years.

 

1.) When is the new application being submitted to the Council?

2.) How long is the Public Consultation likely to take?

3.) When does MFC now expect the work on the development to start?

4.) When is the development likely to be completed?

5.) Is Gary Lever and his development company going to remain on board in light of yet another series of delays?

6.) Due to the further delays are there any parts of the redevelopment that are not subject to the resubmission of new plans thatcould be commenced whilst

this mess is sorted out.

7.) Are these further delays going to place the future of MFC in any doubt?

[Coffin Ender]

Once full planning permission is given, objections become irrelevant.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2011 by Coffin Ender

[BlueGate Alan]

I am sure once any update is needed the club will let Wellsie know and he will update us.

[psych]

Sometimes I wonder if knocking the old ground down was a good idea. Only sometimes though. This great new news seems to suggest there'll be delay number 55 (rough estimate).

Edited February 15, 2011 by psych

[Coffin Ender]

This is what Cllr Moores wrote on his blog a month ago...

 

Firstly, I have to go back to 2006. That’s when the club received planning permission for a development that included a football stadium, 80-bed hotel, children’s play area, fitness club, theme bar, conference and banqueting suites, along with 10 five-a-sides and one full-size all-weather pitch. That application and the process it went through, before being approved, received widespread publicity at the time.

 

The situation today is that planning permission still exists. Some parts of the application has been built or developed, namely the five-a-side pitches, and should the football club wish to build the rest of what was approved, they would be perfectly within their rights to do so as long as this remains within the permissions already granted.

 

If they wish to make material changes to the application that was approved, then they would need to submit an amended application. It’s something that frequently happens and every time it does, the council then asks for the public’s views, before making a decision. That would happen here as well. No planning application would be decided, without first giving people the opportunity to comment.

 

If the club required more land for the project, then the council, as the landowner of Hartsdown Park, would also need to give consent to the leasing of the land. With a major investment into Hartsdown Leisure Centre in the last year, I think it is most unlikely that the council would give approval for park land to be used for leisure facilities. We see Hartsdown Leisure Centre as the major leisure facility in that area.

 

The ball lies firmly with the football club. The decision is a simple one. They can build what’s already been agreed, or if they wish to change it, they can apply to the council. I want to make it abundantly clear, that if this is the case, local people will have their opportunity to have their say on the matter and we will of course be taking their views into account in any decision we make on the park’s future.

 

 

[Frankie100]

Of course when the Turner Centre was going through all the changes of plans the Council gave its full backing without asking the locals what they thought. and handed over extra land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marathon Man]

I note what you have placed on here CE and am aware that you can not always believe what the papers say. However todays Thanet Times clearly states that the club need to submit a fresh application for this. On reading the article again (Page 4) IMO it would appear to only apply to the Travel Lodge as it is a differnt design to the original hotel proposal.

[Coffin Ender]

Yes, MM, it's a question of 69 rooms (refused) as opposed to 80 rooms (OK). Why the extra rooms would prove insurmountable to the development, I don't know. And as the blog extract above shows, this decision can hardly come as a surprise to the club.

[Wellsie]

As I said elsewhere, a formal statement will be issued shortly. One thing I do want to make clear here is that the club is NOT seeking additional land to that already approved. It has never been on the club or developer's agenda to seek additional land. The hotel has always been and remains inside the footprint of the original stadium. Of course, the 3G pitch - next to the 5's - has been fully aproved by the council so there are a mixture of things going on here and I suspect that's what many people don't fully understand.

 

I'm going to try to resist the urge to post any more in this thread as I intended the one I started to be the one that alert's people to any official staements etc.

[Boney Crisp]

Ok this is actually quite petty and it seems the council are using the club for money. You should not have to re-submit the entire plans for a problem with an already approved hotel. The club are being treated unfairly in my eyes. Maybe the club should put an art school with the plans or a painting or 2, that would definitely get planning permission plus extra land regardless what the locals think.

[Frankie100]

Maybe it is because our hands were always pointing forward and not backwards!!!!!!!!

[Andy .]

Whatever the problem is it will still make the club look like they have no clue what so ever . Maybe a few more won`t bother turning up on Sat now so will the club moan because the att is even lower than it was , will this have an affect on the squad and will the atmosphere become less than than it is even though there is not much left anyway . Might even stay at home myself or do i go and watch , get to the turnstyle pay my £10 get my £2 program then be asked to buy a meat raffle ticket because we have to pay for the new striker some how . walk in get my £3.50 of food & drink then watch a lifeless game in a lifless stadium .

 

We have some good well named players in our squad this season we need them to stay around but they won`t with the broken promises they keep getting weather its the clubs fault or someone else involved with the clubs future we won`t have them .