• Welcome to the ShrimperZone forums.
    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which only gives you limited access.

    Existing Users:.
    Please log-in using your existing username and password. If you have any problems, please see below.

    New Users:
    Join our free community now and gain access to post topics, communicate privately with other members, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and free. Click here to join.

    Fans from other clubs
    We welcome and appreciate supporters from other clubs who wish to engage in sensible discussion. Please feel free to join as above but understand that this is a moderated site and those who cannot play nicely will be quickly removed.

    Assistance Required
    For help with the registration process or accessing your account, please send a note using the Contact us link in the footer, please include your account name. We can then provide you with a new password and verification to get you on the site.

Question Stadium update please!

800 new homes around the stadium site. That's a lot and a hope the council have planned for the necessary infrastructure which will be required i.e. Schools, medical facilities, food outlets etc.
If it's over (I think) 300 houses it has to have a doctors surgery and maybe a school as well, they get around this though by the same directors having different companies set up for the maximum number each time, in essence multiple companies on the same estate but owned by the same people
 
Aside from the concern about how this development will provide income for the club I suppose it should be considered positive news. I just wish it wasn’t going to look like blocks of flats that will probably look like a dodgy council estate within 20 years. I suppose now the retail & cinema side has been dropped maybe we can hope the housing element can be spread over the land more and not built into the stadium itself?
 
I think we need some clarification on a whole load of details from our illustrious leader.

I've no doubt he will be championing his good work in the coming days.
 
Great news!, ?

As I can't see Hilton eager to have their brand placed in the middle of a housing estate & the Main stand being key to providing non - football finance, what other options could there be to replace a hotel?

The only things I could think of is a leisure centre & restaurants.
 
Not getting excited, principles in place now to kick on the project but I have no faith in Ron, SUFC or SBC. Until planning is obtained and we start building I will hold back my excitement.
 
With all of these houses being proposed, I hope the affordable and housing association homes will be 100% allocated to people within the borough and not sold off by SBC to the likes of Newham, Tower Hamlets and Dagenham. The influx of the dregs from London is already causing a crime spree in Rochford already.
 
This is clearly positive news. The only real change is commercial to residential, which in planning terms is much easier than the other way round.....For all sorts of reasons.

I did predict this happening a while ago because of the geographical nature of our town. Not able to draw shoppers from even Rayleigh and unable to remotely achieve the 12,000 new houses that the government require.

Every single one of us has changed their shopping habits in the last decade so who would risk investing in retail right now?. Housing is, dare I say is Corona proof.

As for 3 sides first. That was always the plan. A missing main stand is far better than one end because its where the money is, so more likely to be built. Even by that new dream owner who wants to waste £100m....You know the one so many of are convinced has been waiting all these years whilst Ron blocks the move

It may well have an effect on the hotel option and they were due to start the 4th side more or less straight away. Hilton will have to be clear up that one I guess. That aside its far better to spend a season or two in your own 3 sides than getting a train to Dagenham or how about driving up the A12 to Col U anyone?

The club were never going to gain anything from the commercial development long term. Like Sainsburys before them, BL would have funded the stadium but they wanted to much of the deal. Now we have the local council and government, which is far better than private. As we have found out...To our cost.

The long term revenue was the Hotel, but more importantly Ron has stated.....He will donate a decent section of the flats overlooking the pitch to SUFC.....Not a cinema or a shop but residential, that can be rented.

Anyway in these bizarre days of Covid 19 and fast changing world events....We are probably going to be in L1 next season (when ever that may be) and we may have a starting date for a new ground.

What ever happens to us all over the next few months and beyond I really don't see how the council or the residents of Southend can afford to turn this down. If they planning department moved with the speed of their own project, like the did with their own Sea Way site. Then it could be in place by September.

Yes there will be the usual NIMBY objections but rather than wait until the very last house has been agreed on FF......Why don't they draw a line on the site where the commercial was due to be built and make the residential a separate plan.

That way the stadium, academy, domes, hotel and any residential connected to the stadium can be started almost immediately. The quicker we move the the sooner the RH development can start.

Of course that now does now leave my other plan open to debate....Ron gives the whole of FF to the council and we build the stadium on the Queensway site. Far Better for the town long term.

The real good news is in 5 years we could be in a wonderful shiny new 4 sided stadium. With any luck we could be that struggling Championships side, like say Barnsley for example. Preston at home on a Tuesday night in November will make you forget all your 30 years of pain.....Won't it?
 
Last edited:
So how will the club benefit financially, if the shops, cinema etc are no longer there. Also no mention of the hotel that was being built...

The club weren't going to benefit from any of that anyway. The only thing that they would benefit from is the hotel and hopefully (hopefully) that is still going ahead.
 
So if there are 1300 properties all told.

Ron and his son let them to the council at £300 each. The council then let them at £600 each.

Both Ron, his son and the council would make £390k per month or just over 4 million per year. Win win for both parties.

Corrected for you.
 
I would be happy if the new stadium was built to the same design as the Keepmoat, we will get some new roads being built to support the stadium and the new houses although this may once again cause a few problems with swampy and the newts along the way or some Anglo Saxon goat farmer they have found 10 feet down

however my only concern would be getting to and from the stadium,heading to the games on the C2C line is ok a short 15 minute walk, not sure that will be the same at the new ground
5000-7000 people heading out on the same roads heading to the A127 or the A13 could be interesting

Like the team with no name up the A12 we also have the option of applying for a music license and we can stage concerts at the new ground, which will bring in good money in the close season

there will be concerns that the stadium is built in the middle of a housing estate but there is potential there for new supporters and new revenue, parking could be an issue with the locals around the ground, all these points will be ironed out for sure as the plans are drawn up and developed

but for the moment we all need to keep safe and well and look at this for a brighter future for our club we love and support

wishing you all well until we are all back in our ground following our team
 
Thanks @rigsby - I agree with your summary of the situation - it’s as simple as the stadium plans are unchanged, the enabling development that funds the first 3 sides (14,000 capacity) has just switched from retail/leisure to housing.

Ron announced in July 2018 ( https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/16356307.hilton-hotel-signs-up-to-southend-stadium-deal/ ) that the deal with Hilton for a hotel in the 4th side (north stand, capacity 7,000) was signed.

It will be interesting to learn if that deal has any caveats in it such as a time limit, if not I suspect that it will continue in tandem with the other development.

It would be good if Ron would clarify this point in order to save speculation about it.
 

ShrimperZone Sponsors

FFM MSPFX Foreign Exchange Services
Estuary MFF2
Zone Advertisers Zone Advertisers

ShrimperZone - SUFC Player Sponsorship

Southend United Away Travel


All At Sea Fanzine


Back
Top