I assume it was worded by the housing company. My heart skipped a little bit when it said a new home, but assuming it means redevelopment of our existing home. The wording also tries to suggest our current pitch isn't FA compliant. Shame also the website doesn't work. In this day and age, it would good if there was an online presentation, especially for those who can't get down on a specific Monday.

Will be interesting to see the plans and whether we are taking any additional land. 115 homes and a new ground seems a lot to fit into the available land.

Unless Ive missed something, my guess is that the cricket ground and part of Danson Park will have to be part of the plan. There will need to be plenty of capacity for parking, could be underground like Tescos. Wasnt they going to turn the pitch around last time? Be interesting to hear the proposal.

Knowing us the cricket team will start groundsharing with us and Erith!

Also both sessions finish by 7pm and most people won't be able to get there.

Odin73 wrote:

---

Perhaps renaming to the Hobbins Arena once complete

---

 The Bexley Bernabeu

I hope the development is future proof, as we need to be sure it is up to Premiership standards when we play there in just a few years' time after doing a Luton and running up a series of promotions. Just you wait and see!

GaryH wrote:

---

Muzza1988 wrote:

---

The whole things stinks. Wasn't this meant to be a small development at the road end to pay for a new ground and give the owners a Brucie bonus. Sounds like a much larger development now which seems completely unnecessary other than greed.

---

 I don't think just doing the road end would be beneficial. When you look at the park end terracing and sides they are terrible really for this century, then you have the old stand, limited space, changing room issues - the list goes on.

I would have preferred a bit by bit approach i.e. pull down the park end, move the pitch and then work on each section but I would guess there's no room to build the road end without using the pitch space?

Mark Goldberg would often show fans some of the designs a few years back, nothing official but they were always larger developments. In fact even larger than what's planned now!

---

 Exactly.  At the moment it's a plan.  Saw good few under MG and none got any closer other than being a nice drawing.  That's see if this one actually gets submitted to the council and has a bit more concrete - pardon the pun - about it

It all sounds very promising and is already further than MG got in all his years at the club. I assume the cricket club must be making way for houses in order to fit that number into the plan. Does anybody have any idea as to the intended capacity of the 'New PVR'? I assume it will be future proof to ensure that once promotion is achieved to the National League we could potentially take part in the playoffs - a little premature I know, however, if Bromley can do it then why not us!

-- Edited by COYW on Thursday 29th of June 2023 02:28:00 PM

Squarevanmanthesecond wrote:

---

Jimmy wrote:

---

GaryH wrote:

---

Muzza1988 wrote:

---

The whole things stinks. Wasn't this meant to be a small development at the road end to pay for a new ground and give the owners a Brucie bonus. Sounds like a much larger development now which seems completely unnecessary other than greed.

---

 I don't think just doing the road end would be beneficial. When you look at the park end terracing and sides they are terrible really for this century, then you have the old stand, limited space, changing room issues - the list goes on.

I would have preferred a bit by bit approach i.e. pull down the park end, move the pitch and then work on each section but I would guess there's no room to build the road end without using the pitch space?

Mark Goldberg would often show fans some of the designs a few years back, nothing official but they were always larger developments. In fact even larger than what's planned now!

---

 Exactly.  At the moment it's a plan.  Saw good few under MG and none got any closer other than being a nice drawing.  That's see if this one actually gets submitted to the council and has a bit more concrete - pardon the pun - about it

---

 I do think it is highly unlikely any self respecting building company would go to the trouble of drawing up plans and arrange a public exhibition if they were not ready to proceed. From what I hear through non Welling connections Lita have a good relationship with London Borough of Bexley which they would not tarnish by proposing something they could not deliver. I understand they are also leafletting the area to ensure the public are fully aware.

On the first point here I disagree about the development being unnecessary. We only have to look at facilities at other non league clubs to see we urgently need to be dragged into the 21st century. The facilities proposed in the leaflet would not only encourage more community participation from the area but would enable the very successful and growing academy to bring their work in house. 

---

 Fingers crossed.  

Are Erith part of the development?

1 step at a time, the money generated from the phase 1 of the development will go towards the phases 2 the removal of the old stand and building a new stand with all the facilities

Davy K wrote:

---

1 step at a time, the money generated from the phase 1 of the development will go towards the phases 2 the removal of the old stand and building a new stand with all the facilities

---

 I thought it was the other way round. Council wanting park end and sides done first for the community aspect. After that the road end for commercial and residential. 

Spoke to a young guy who I assume was an Architect for Lila Homes. He stated that Erith had not objected. He also said that they would not be returning once the development was complete and would be relocated somewhere else.

4200 (1600 seated).

Looking to purchase the GMB and Security buildings next to the main entrance.

Car free development. They have lots of spaces for cycle racks.

Main entrance and 4 commercial units on ground floor including larger commercial unit for bar.

From looking at the pictures it looked like 5 floors of flats.

I went down to the ground myself in the end so I will attempt to answer my own questions.

 

1. What is the predicted time frame for the development in total? 2 years from the start of building works.

How many of the flats will be Housing Association? 0

Will the sold flats be sold over different phases? It does n't seem so.

 Will the flats be built before the stadium? No, at the same time

Is the recent interest rate/mortgage problems/House price crash likely to have any impact on the feasibility of the development? I did n't ask this question.

2. Will the development fund the purchase of a top quality plastic pitch? Yes

3. Have Erith and Belvedere FC agreed to the development and if not can they stop it? They are not part of the redevelopment "at this stage".

4. What will be the finished capacity of the Stadium- Seating and Standing Capacity? 4,200 but ability to increase. This includes 1,600 seats

5. Are the council fully behind the development and if so what are the further hurdles to pass? Not yet. Needs GLA approval.

6. If the development get the go ahead does that mean that Welling United FC (and indeed Erith and Belvedere FC) will have their Lease with the council extended? Yes but not agreed with council yet.

7. Will the club be able to sustain a National League South budget whilst the club is away from PVR- especially if the project is delayed? I didn't ask this but I did ask our new manager if he was happy managing a club in exile and he said he was. He is very keen on a plastic pitch. Paul Whitehead said there is a plan in the pipeline for playing elsewhere.

8. Will the developer face a financial penalty if the development is delayed and will this money go to the club(s) or the council? I did n't ask!

 

 

In summary well done to the architects who seem to have taken a genuine interest in our club and have come up with some genuinely nice designs that I think would benefit that area of Welling as well as the club. However I fear there are genuine hurdles that could stop this plan dead in its tracks. If it does then maybe the club will have to look again at a smaller scale development of classrooms/ hospitality/bar that will not demand such difficult planning requirements and will not require the club to move away during development.

A really helpful informative presentation, again reflective of the new transparency of the owners. A new board is forming, an announcement will be made once it is finalised. As ground space is compact they have to build lots of floors to fit everything in. They are not aiming to attract car owners of the flats as there isn't parking space. Currently no social housing planned.

There can be problems if architects are detached from audiences they make services for. The current plan is for the park end to be undeveloped. I suggested to an architect they reduce the width of the main road standing area a bit so they could then fit in some limited standing at the other end, as a great things now is being able to swap ends at half time, and it would be a shame to lose that. Last season I saw a visiting fan's online negative comment about us only having 3 sides to the ground and no access behind 1 goal, so a shame if the development can't fix that. On my way out I mentioned doubts about the 3 side plan to Paul, and it sounds as if that is already under review. So if that is fixable this was a really reassuring development stopping us from falling behind neighbouring teams.

Artificial pitches would previously have worried me, as I remember all sorts of past problems about high unpredictable bounce on them, but the Cray Wanderers game on Bromley's artificial pitch was fine. It will open us to being able to play more than the 2 games a week we can currently play at home on on grass, and gives us a much more consistent playing surface throughout the season.

To be honest I would prefer to have the Park End remaining undeveloped and keep the planned terracing at the road end.  Although that makes us "3 sided", it will increase the capacity (as there would only be one set of space at the front where people cannot stand) and it does allow for development at the Park End without having to worry about what was previously there.  But that's a matter of opinion and I respect others might disagree.

Ex Greenwich councillor told me about planning application in Abbey Wood. Greenwich turned down high rise Bexley approved. So its possible the council will want the properties built. If many objections then a few processes. Bexley refuse or grant GLA disagree and call in. they agree or refuse and gets called in to government inspector. It could be a long long wait until we know the outcome.

Regarding park end, it will be open to fans otherwise league would not grant grade for league.

Is it possible for the developers to produce a Frequently Asked Questions list, and put it online, and add to it as new questions and answers arise. The meeting answered all the questions, and it would be handy to have them, along with any others that get asked later on, in a single place online so we know where to look for answers. Could there also be a section to submit questions?

This is all a massive change, so striking there were no major objections raised by the fans, and that reflects well on all the architect and board thought that has clearly already gone into designing this ahead of its sharing with the fans.

One question I meant to ask at the meeting, but overlooked in my excitement finding there are going to be lots of bars in the ground, is the development will offer lots of new services to the community, so is Bexley Council likely to help out with some funding for this development? I think the likes of Bromley, Dartford and Ebbsfleet have had some council funding, are we going down that route too?