Expanding the Mad Stat

[Wycombe Royal]

I just hope they also have a plan with regards to how they will get all the additional cars to and from the stadium and where to park them.

2 words

Monorail

They'll put the cars on a monorail? Can they park them on the monorail as well?

[royal goof]

Start work on site at J11 Spring 2007 - expected to take 2 years.

http://www.reading.gov.uk/pressarticle.asp?id=sx9452-a781cdc7

There is No chance whatsoever that this work will be completed in 2 years.

It was intended to be a combined scheme with Mereoak however it involves 2 different Councils and the Mereoak scheme hasn't even got a planning application in yet so unless they do one scheme without the other the whole thing is going to take even longer..

Who says the two schemes are still combined - the WDC & RBC sites each have them as seperate works.

Ok, here goes... The 2 schemes are in different boundaries and were therefore subject of separate planning applications (sorry - the mereoak lane has got planning permission).

Now that they have planning permission the 2 councils can work together to get a combined scheme. The Mereoak Lane scheme will be done first as the plan is to use the park & ride site as a site compound for the whole project. The new junctions from the P&R will then be put in place to provide a better access to J11.

Final bid funding has not yet been finalised but is expected to be given by April 2007, if so then the work will go out to tender which will take about 6 months - so thats Oct 2007.

Buildings such as the police HQ and the maintenance depot will need to be relocated which will take another 18 months or so - thats June 2009.

Major work on the carriageway of J11 cannot be done until these are relocated. Obviously other preparation works can run concurrently to this.

This major carriageway work, bridges, bus routes, cycle lanes etc etc will then take approx 3 years - bringing us to JUNE 2012....


The point is should Reading Football Club be allowed to extend their stadium by over 10,000 seats with the additional impact on the surrounding road network before all of these works are done??

If RB Council (or Secretary of State) say 'No, you have to wait for J11' then RFC cant expand until 2012!

[working class hero]

[quote="

I would also be loking at upping the price on the top seats in the ground, despite the idea that there are no bad views if the club are to maximise income then some blocks should be more expensive.

That's a bit unfair as people would not have the chance top move as all season tickets are sold.

[MartinRdg]

And don't forget the club's own rationale that ticket prices have to be as high as they are now because of the small capacity.

So an increase in capacity will allow more reasonable prices to be set - if only for the less attractive games - whilst stil increasing overall revenue.

This will help increase demand and allow the games to be more accessible to the old, young and less well off.

You mean to say that the prices for our programs will drop back to £2.50 if we get relegated, like Crystal Palace's didn't, and ticket prices would drop with increased capacity after expansion like Arsenal's haven't?

I think you will find there is still a waiting list at Arsenal so the demand is still there.

[anR]

And don't forget the club's own rationale that ticket prices have to be as high as they are now because of the small capacity.

So an increase in capacity will allow more reasonable prices to be set - if only for the less attractive games - whilst stil increasing overall revenue.

This will help increase demand and allow the games to be more accessible to the old, young and less well off.

You mean to say that the prices for our programs will drop back to £2.50 if we get relegated, like Crystal Palace's didn't, and ticket prices would drop with increased capacity after expansion like Arsenal's haven't?

I think you will find there is still a waiting list at Arsenal so the demand is still there.

Someone should explain that to Wigan!

[cmonurz]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 366880.stm

Planning application to be made in October. Sorry if this is already on the thread.

[Stranded]

Not understanding the complexities of planning law - is there a time limit between when approval is given and when building work begins or is it an ongoing approval?

For example, extending by 10K seats doesn't make much sense if we were to go down, would the club be able to put the plans on ice and then start work 3/4 years down the line or would they have to reapply?

[RG30]

From what was said last time, you could apply and now do it for 3 or 4 years I believe, hence the new application as the previous one had expired. Obviously there is a lot more to take in with more people than ever using cars and clearly not enough facilites to operate.

[Custard Cream]

Not understanding the complexities of planning law - is there a time limit between when approval is given and when building work begins or is it an ongoing approval?

For example, extending by 10K seats doesn't make much sense if we were to go down, would the club be able to put the plans on ice and then start work 3/4 years down the line or would they have to reapply?

Yes there is a time limit - I think it is 5 or 6 years

[Elm Park]

I just hope they also have a plan with regards to how they will get all the additional cars to and from the stadium and where to park them.

2 words

Monorail

Or Trams from a spur off the Basingstoke line through Green park

[Tony Le Mesmer]

I supose the application has been made assuming the club establish themselves long term in the premiership.

With the exception of games like we have on Sat, you have to ask whether we really need to extend at all at the moment.

I believe tickets for our first 2 home games went on general sale, so demand is hardly outstripping supply.

Personally, i feel that our ground is just about perfect at the moment.

[Symposium]

When the railway station is built, will it be called the Mad Stat?

Mad station. Yes.

I'm assuming that both of those posts were jokes... but in the event that they weren't, I believe the new station would be called Reading GreenPark Station, because it would be primarily to serve the GreenPark Business Park and the proposed Kennet Valley Park housing development.

Besides which, the station would be right next to GreenPark, but over a mile from Mad Stad.

http://www.greenpark.co.uk/downloads/GP_PR_readingstation.pdf

[Rob-Royal]

I supose the application has been made assuming the club establish themselves long term in the premiership.

With the exception of games like we have on Sat, you have to ask whether we really need to extend at all at the moment.

I believe tickets for our first 2 home games went on general sale, so demand is hardly outstripping supply.

Personally, i feel that our ground is just about perfect at the moment.

We won't survive in the Premiership if we stand still and not expand. We'll become an average championship size club at best. With expansion we'll be an average size Prem club.

Demand is there. 1,000 ST waiting list. Limited number of match day tickets available and one of the smallest away allocations in the prem.

The 1,000 waiting list should not be perceived as a final number either and that's all there is. Demand would go up again (especially kids/families) if there was more available.

I've said it before, this town is growing rapidly with huge infrastructure changes & investment happening now and going to continue to happen. The club would be foolish not to tap into that and do the same.

[royal goof]

Not understanding the complexities of planning law - is there a time limit between when approval is given and when building work begins or is it an ongoing approval?

For example, extending by 10K seats doesn't make much sense if we were to go down, would the club be able to put the plans on ice and then start work 3/4 years down the line or would they have to reapply?

There is usually a time limit of 3/5 years from date of permission to date of starting to build.

The club does not have to build the extension at any time..

[Lower West]

Compared to a lot of clubs the future looks good for Reading off the pitch as well as on. We now have a whole generation of kids that have Reading as their first club whatever happens in the future.

Seems today that people want an easy life. In days gone by when there was terracing grounds such as Highbury (RIP) , White Hart Lane etc would hold 57,000 and 48,000 capacity crowds. Parking before and getting away from a fixture could be a complete nightmare. Walking 2/3 miles was often the only thing to do even you didnt want to still be parked at gone 11 o'clock after a midweek fixture.

[FiNeRaIn]

I supose the application has been made assuming the club establish themselves long term in the premiership.

With the exception of games like we have on Sat, you have to ask whether we really need to extend at all at the moment.

I believe tickets for our first 2 home games went on general sale, so demand is hardly outstripping supply.

Personally, i feel that our ground is just about perfect at the moment.

Rubbish mate. City sold out as apparantly did boro and we are only giving away fans 2,300. Most clubs would sell out another 2,000 EASILY. We also sold out agaisnt man city which isn't the most of attractive of games and it was a monday night on sky. For the top 8 including most london clubs we'd get around 30,000+ IMO. For purely business reasons the move is viable and one we should proceed with to expand. Obviously bolton on a tuesday night wouldn't sell out, but a lot would.

[Jaques Francais]

I just hope they also have a plan with regards to how they will get all the additional cars to and from the stadium and where to park them.

2 words

Monorail

<pedant mode>

Isn't that actually one word?

<\pedant mode>

*considers pointing out the difference between words and syllables*

1 word and 1 rail too. Not a monosyllable word though.

[Spirit of Elm Park]

I hear a lot of people saying that if we got relegated we would be back to 10k attendances. I don't agree with this.

Over the years, Elm park included, our attendances have risen and stayed high, I think the fact that we can now get 12k for a "reserve" cup game proves this.

If we could sell 30k plus even for half our games in the prem, I am sure we would see 24+k even if we did get relegated.

[FiNeRaIn]

I hear a lot of people saying that if we got relegated we would be back to 10k attendances. I don't agree with this.

Over the years, Elm park included, our attendances have risen and stayed high, I think the fact that we can now get 12k for a "reserve" cup game proves this.

If we could sell 30k plus even for half our games in the prem, I am sure we would see 24+k even if we did get relegated.

Depends what they did with the ticket prices. They would have to drop MASSIVELY for us to get an average of 24k, even then jury's out.
We wouldn't have a problem keeping it mostly full in the prem but championship only southampton would probably sell out, as they are the biggest club in the world.

[RoyalBlue]

Oh no they're not - Brighton are!