Yeah, it's definitely the way of the world these days.
You only have to a walk through Grays high street (if your brave enough) these days, to see the effect what an all weather shopping experience and free parking (such as lakeside and it's retail park) has on a typical high street.... Im sure there are many other examples of this all up and down the country, such as Dartford High Street on Bluewater Shopping Centre etc..
Taking Grays as an example, (for those that are unaware) Grays Athletic used to play their home games at the recreation ground, which was within walking distance of the high street, and no doubt the high street owners benefited from the football fans (both home and away) that drank, ate or shopped in the high street, before and after kick off. In my opinion, the high street has fallen into further decline since Grays moved to ground sharing away from the town centre.
My point being that, even with the Fossetts Farm Stadium taken out of the equation, and say the retail park got the "go ahead" it's most likely that the general public would still shop there regardless, due to the larger size stores, leading to more choice and availability of goods and the mentioned free parking. So Mr Dadswell, doesnt really have a genuine point of view in my opinion.
Should Fossetts Farm, however be given the go ahead, with a larger stadium brings the possibility of more success to our club, which should in turn, comes more fans (both home and away), which in turn means the possibility of more revenue for the local high street as well as for the club.
A personal example of this was Boxing Day last year when we were playing Cambridge away, (many thanks Barry Corr.... kinda ironic in hindsight)
anyway, she drove me up to Cambridge, dropped me at the stadium, then within 90 minutes, she managed to spend so much in Cambridge high street in that time, i was seriously considering calling either Bob Geldorf or Lenny Henry for a TV appeal!
In summary, everyone should in theory be a winner. As Ive said before, no non supporting Southend fans, would'nt dream of heading to the Fossetts Farm Retail Park on say around 3pm on a home match day, it just wouldnt be worth the parking hassle, so would head into the high street instead to do thir shop instead.
On a similar note, without wanting to divert from the thread, yet still talking about the future of Fossetts Farm and another Evening Echo article.
I read about the possibility of a bus or coach link / Shuttle service from Westcliff Station to Southend Airport, to alleviate the airport passengers commute during the 26 odd days of engineering work each year on the Greater Anglia line. The article claims that it would take around 10 minutes from station to the airport, so it would be less in terms of journey time if this bus service stopped at Fossetts Farm prior to the airport, and would surely be cheaper than getting a taxi of the same distance (unless in a large group and splitting the cab fare equally). The article also appears to have the backing of Martin Terry, who is the Southend Councillor responsible for Transport.
I think it would be an excellent idea, and another option for both home and away fans to get to the stadium on match days, creating revenue, and most importantly it could possibly reduce the car parking issue around the stadium on match days (or the claim about the parking at Fossets Farm).
I personaly, cant see how any harm can come of it being implemented or trialled at the least to see if it's financially viable.
Anyway, for whom ever is intrested, i have attached the link to the article, which is below:
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/14171587.Rail_firm_c2c_plans_Southend_airport_shuttle_bus/
UTB
