THE GROUND

[ANGLE]

Expect big news tonight,for sure.

[Boney Crisp]

Lets hope so

[jkmaskell]

Im expecting big news too. Ive been warned to expect that sort of news. Of course what is big to one person is predictable and minor to another...guess we'll have to wait and see. Looking forward to tonight.

[Margate Martian]

excellent. looks like i will have to stay on line all nite to wait and see what it is!!!

[Boney Crisp]

Basically what has happened is that the hotel has been removed from the plans as the club cannot justify the reason for a hotel. The planning authority are very happy with the plans and the plans are sitting in the council offices. Malcolm Rowlett is extremely confident that the club will be given planning permision to build the stadium and did say that if we start building work by March we will have to ground-share with a team for our last 2 home games as the Ryman league said no to Margate about moving the fixtures. We also have planning permision to build the five-a-side pitches and MR said that he is hopeful building work will start on them by Christmas.

 

They are the main points from tonights meeting, probably others could develop it.

[michael]

Any 'football' news from the meeting ?

[Boney Crisp]

nope, the stadium was the only thing on the agenda.

[geoff pay]

well if the hotel goes wont gary lever go too??

[michael]

thanks anyway

[MargateFan]

Apparently not, Geoff, he is still firmly onside.

[teamster]

Looks like the Council are still messing us about I still say the ground will not be built without the Hotel. Can anyone tell me where the money is coming from?

[geoff pay]

Where is the money coming from then. Were there no questions asked then.

[jkmaskell]

To those who were at the meeting but havent met me, I was the one wearing the black t-shirt and hanging round the bar...

 

The timetable is very uncertain and with Council procedure taking as long as it does, Im not convinced by the March scheduled start. The news was a bit anti-climatic really... I was expecting much bigger news than this. Basically the news was that we cut out some fat off the application and that weve been chatting to the Council about how best to move forward. There are still a lot of question marks here.

[margateshot]

I'm very surprised that the hotel has been shelved as the club could not justify it. I would have thought that a struggling holiday resort would be crying out for a quality hotel. Very surprised at that, and it appears that the council were against it. Very disappointing news really as it does not appear that anything has changed since the last announcement, and as usual we are told that the plans are still with the council, no change there then.

[Boney Crisp]

I forgot to add that the club are putting together a business plan.

[margateshot]

Is this the same business plan that was supposed to be submitted 3 years ago

[jkmaskell]

The plans were with the Council, they hadnt been registered. As for the hotel, that was dropped as it wasnt justified with there being lots of hotels along the seafront. For a scheme, each part needs to be justified. The hotel wasnt fulfilling a need.

 

As for the business plan, its extremely important that the business plan work. If it doesnt, we can kiss the planning application good bye.

[margateshot]

I think the important part of my last comment James was the need for a QUALITY hotel!!!

[jkmaskell]

The Council doesnt differentiate that way...either its a hotel or its not. I know what you mean, but the Council sees a hotel...

[Boney Crisp]

That is true, but without many tourists down here it won't be used much and therefore a waste of money. There are a lot of hotels going out of business down here now and i personally think it is a good idea that the hotel has been taken out.