THE GROUND

[jkmaskell]

The removal of the hotel reduces the height of the overall development meaning less reasons to object by local residents. Its a good thing the hotel was removed.

[Gate Watcher]

General gist of the meeting was

 

New plans, club happy with them, and through at least five meetings with planning chiefs at the council Malcolm feels sure that they are happy with them along with Sandy. He believes that they will push through this development as they can justify a test centre but they have withdrawn the hotel as they could not justify a hotel on Hartsdown Road when there are far better sites along the seafront in Margate for a hotel. It's just one of those things that would be likely to cause a delay if it were kept in because there is a section in the planning process where everything that it included in a plan must be "justified" and given reasons why it is at this site wheras not on the seafront for example. There is no way that a hotel would serve the town better on Hartsdown Road than along the seafront in Margate. The backers are fine with the removal of the hotel. The motorcycle test centre underpins the cost of the whole development and Malcolm believes that he has reached a point through discussions where the planning chiefs are ok with the test centre current projected positioning on Hartsdown Road.

 

Work to build to 10 5aside pitches that the club already has permission for is anticipated to start before Xmas according to Malcolm. This will of course provide income to the club.

 

At the moment specialists are drawing up a water tight business plan to go with the new hotel-free plans. It's not a great deal different from the previous plans that were registered with the council in March. Test centre, creche, banqueting facilities, bar etc. Just no hotel. Same stadium specifics. 5000 capacity with a covered seating stand down each side and covered terracing behind both goals.

 

Malcolm believes that now he has held talks with figures at planning that we are moving forward. He has been in meetings with them at least once a week for the last couple of months and he seems to have a good understanding with them.

 

Of the latest application the first thing to go up will be the test centre and the main stand and covered terracing behind the goals. The Tivoli Park Av side seating stand would presumably be left until last.

 

We will have a temporary mobile clubhouse when the current facility eventually gets knocked down and while we are waiting for the test centre and main stand to go up. It shouldnt take long though as it will be of similar structure to the new buildings at Westwood Cross where they seemed to go up within 6 months.

 

There will be no problems should we gain promotion. There is a year to get things up to scratch.

 

Should we start work by March as is hoped we aren't allowed to switch games to away from home. We will have to seek a groundshare for the last couple of games of this season if the development starts as planned. The pitch will be turned and the main stand on the Hartsdown Road side will go up first of all followed by terracing behind the goals with the aim of getting the basics in place for the start of next season with relevant health & safety in place. The finishing touches would be added as next season goes on in between games.

[Cookie]

Thanks GW.That sounds better all wrapped up into one.Still not positive enough i.m.o but better than I had been reading in snippets.Appreciated.

Still too many ifs & buts & hopefully this hopefully that etc etc for my liking though.

I was looking at something MORE positive coming out of the meeting but there you go!

The Hotel was already rumoured to have been done away with anyway.I suppose,if nothing else has been shown to be more "concrete" then at least news concerning this has,minus the concrete of course.

No questions & answers on any other subject then apart from the Ground?

Thanks again for that detailed,in depth & slightly uplfting report.

 

[jkmaskell]

One thing the plans show is that the trees behind Coffin End will be removed to allow the ground to move towards the right. Im pretty sure a tree survey showed that if those trees were to be removed, they would have to be placed somewhere else and due to the size and condition of the trees, there arent many companies with the expertise to do the job.

 

The meeting was just about the Ground. No questions asked about anything else.

[Cookie]

Thanks James!

[Gate Watcher]

To be honest James I honestly can't see the removal of trees being a problem. I'm optimistic. Thought we MIGHT have got something more definate out of it but I like the sound of the way things are progressing at the moment.

[phil d]

are we missing out on something here. Dont get me wrong for the past 3 years we have been strung along the garden path with meetings about ground develepment and not a thing comeing out of it. How many of us have sat in the club house and listened to a certain person saying that approval has been given everything is going ahead and hartsdown will have a new stadium when it seemed to me that the council were unaware of any plans. Where was K P last night i would liked to have asked him his thoughts on the matter and why all of a sudden Malcom can pull the right strings in 3 months. Good luck Malcom but still no concrete (yes) answers from the council and i feel we are not that close to going forward at the moment,

[Margate Martian]

As ive always said to myself I wont believe it until I see it!!!

[Hempstead Gaz]

No doubt the thing that swung it past Sandy was that the pitch was going to be a green carpet.

I imagine SE will be happy to supply a quote!!

 

Good luck with the build.

 

CG

[ANGLE]

Just some food for thought,what if the Development Company wanted to own the Football Club,does anyone feel this may ever be an issue,would the benefits be a way foward,this is pure conjecture,daft idea i suppose.

[Boney Crisp]

I dont think that will happen, as the developers are going to be taking a small percentage of income from the facilities i do believe.

[Chris1]

Thanks GW - superb 'match report'.

[blueblood]

My understanding of what MR Rowlett said last night is this.

The Motor cycle rider testing centre will be the back bone of the development. This one item will under pin the whole project.

The new club house, the new function suite, the theme bar, shop, creche, the ten 5 aside pitches and the artficial pitch will all bring in income to the club, though i assume a rent will have to be paid to the developer for a period to cover his costs and a profit.

Last week i had the pleasure in taking the developer back home after the Wimbledon game which he enjoyed. As a driver it was not my duty to question him about the development but, i did ask him about the council. His answer was that they are no different than any other he has to deal with, it just takes time. (He is by the way a Chelsea supporter and i believe as a box there. We talked non stop all the way through the journey, he came across as a very down to earth genuine character).

Malcolm spoke about the removal of the hotel from the plans. He said every item on the plan has to be justified to the planners, the applicant has to put a case forward to the planners saying why you believe each item you have on your plan is situated in the best possible position. They even have to justify why they think Hartsdown park is the best position for a Margate fc stadium in Thanet. Being situated so far from the main amenities of the town meant that Hartsdown park couldn't be justified as the best place for a hotel.

I know we have had false dawns, i like you have had my hopes raised in the past only to be dashed again. This time i believe we are moving forward. As Malcolm said he as had 40 years experience as a Architect dealing with planning applications and planners and he is in weekly talks with the council. The club house will come down in March as the test centre development will have to start then to be finished in the time frame stipulated. The 5 a sides will start by Christmas. i do not think they would spend this money with out being confident about success.

Malcolm said a plan was lodged at the planning offices in march and a fee of £19,000p paid, though it was not registered, as a business plan not been finalised. To draw up a business plan all the T's have to be crossed and the I's dotted. The process he described is very complicated and the works have to be justified by outside consultants etc, which again is very expensive and until that is all complete the plans will not be registered.

All in all i left the meeting last night feeling we were moving forward and in good hands.

My quote of the night was from Malcolm at the begining. "I am the Chairman of the Club"

[michael]

I like the last line in above post.

 

I think we have been lacking in real off-field leadership for a while.