I'll be surprised if it Doesnt tower over the site

While trawling through the many pages of info about the Stadium site there was one by a Government Dept that looks at Development sites like the UGB, it said that in their view the Council should knock back the plans because the stadium was too important to the area and people of St Helens and should have the most prominant position on the site, but beggers cant be choosers, the Council as we know didnt take their recomendations onboard.

The stadium doesnt have the prominent position from views for people looking from the town centre.

However if coming from other areas then things get a lot more complex.

Certainly the stadium will be far more visible and prominent than most traditional RL stadiums including knowsley road.
Knowsley road in particular is hidden away in a suburban housing estate at the bottom of a hill.
Its essentially hidden until you are right ontop of it. This has never seemed to bother people in the past.

A look at other recent stadium developments, affecting RL clubs and i can only think of Leigh and Hull were the stadium is a central feature.

Take Wigans DW, that stadium is hidden behind a massive retail park, some distance from the main roads into and out of Wigan. Its position is nothing like as prominent as Central Park whose floodlights dominated the town.

Warringtons new stadium is also hidden behind a Tesco. It only really becomes visible when nearing the set of traffic lights built to accomodate access to Tescos.

Huddersfields ground is visible, but is stuck behind an industrial estate on the side of a hill.

Widnes ground is in the same place as its always been and therefore is hard to spot if you dont know there is a stadium there.

Quote ="The Doghead"While trawling through the many pages of info about the Stadium site there was one by a Government Dept that looks at Development sites like the UGB, it said that in their view the Council should knock back the plans because the stadium was too important to the area and people of St Helens and should have the most prominant position on the site, but beggers cant be choosers, the Council as we know didnt take their recomendations onboard.'" www.cabe.org.uk/design-review/st ... by-stadium

Quote ="The Doghead"While trawling through the many pages of info about the Stadium site there was one by a Government Dept that looks at Development sites like the UGB, it said that in their view the Council should knock back the plans because the stadium was too important to the area and people of St Helens and should have the most prominant position on the site, but beggers cant be choosers, the Council as we know didnt take their recomendations onboard.'" www.cabe.org.uk/design-review/st ... by-stadium

The Halliwell Jones is hidden by Tesco if you are viewing from behind Tesco! They are parallel facing the A49.

Who actually cares if it is visible? Function over form.

Its merely something some people like.

As for Wire. Drive down the A49 from the m62 and you cant really see the stadium until your right ontop of it, because its hidden by Tescos and the former Church.

On visiting the site yesterday i noticed a planning notice on a lampost near the stadium.

The planning notice is p/2010/0267 and concerns the developers wanting to be exempt from some of the preconditions before building the stadium. It was posted on 18th March this year The preconditions in question are 17, 18, 22, 23 and 60

These preconditions appear to be around travel and access arrangements to the site.

Its noticable that this request was withdrawn only a few days ago on the 4th May after discussions with planning officials.
I suspect this may in some way explain the delay with appointing a contractor

Langtree would therefore now appear to have to fullfill the original obligations before the contractors can be appointed.

This sentence on one of the letters is i feel pertinant

"The Applicant needs to let the contract for building the Stadium and Store urgently"

Ive had it confirmed, that my suspicions in an earlier post re Planning conditions not being met, are infact true.

There are something like 74 conditions that need to be fulfilled as part of planning approval.

As a result we wont see any stadium being built until the developers get round to satisfying all these conditions.

Examples of submissions required by planning include

Handling of soil resources
Waste management plan
Energy efficiency
Conservation management plan re the bottle shop
Disposal of foul water
Surface water regulation
Relocation of newts
Presence of badgers on site
Eradication of Japanese Knotweed
Tree protection plan
landscaping and planting plan
Closure of access points to site
Car parking contingency plan
Plan for emergency access link
Management of Tesco service yard
Matchday crowd movement plan during store trading hours
Widening of footway at Peasley cross lane
Highway improvement scheme on Linkway East
Construction of site access points
Detailed land stability study
Human health and environment risk assessment
Samples of construction materials
remediation strategy
project risk register

I hope somebody has relocated those newts by the end of the month otherwise nothing is going to happen until the "kids" are big enough to leave the pond.

Can we transfer the badgers, newts and the bottleshop to the bowling green behind the Wagon & Horses. It would stop them knocking the pub down at least.

Good thinking there,mate.

OK Apologies for the delay dues to Edinburgh and Quinns away some new pictures of the site











And just to give you an idea of whats happened , a sort of timeline from April on the left to today on the right

So daffodils have been and gone - anything else I've missed?

There are leaves on the sapplings

The weather was better in April

More people travel by car in April?

Thats the only picture i am taking from exactly the same spot so im sorry it doesnt show a nice shiny stadium there for you all, the other pictures show the infrastructure work which is progressing nicely, one thing , for all the negative posters on here, the infrastructure has to go in first BEFORE you start building as its a little difficult to put the drains in after the stadium and store is built, jeez guys , have a little faith please theyve only been building since APR 11th !!

Mate, you're doing sterling work - wasn't meant as a negative post at all, just a joke.

I've no doubt we're on course for a fantastic new ground, and look forward to watching it progress over the months ahead!

no problem mate its just some of the negative comments are beyond a joke, you would think some of our fans dont want a new stadium

The Email I recieved from the Council was quiet "upbeat", it pointed out that construction of the traffic Island well underway, and that the developers were working on the pre condition, it seemed normal business to them.

Newts???

These beggars can delay a project for anything up to 6 months.

Nahhh mate , an "accident" with a tin of weedkiller/rat poison and bobs yer aunty , job done !!

I emailed the person in charge of the UGB site development, regarding the current position re conditions and I got this in reply:

Mr O'Keeffe

The notices located around the site relate to an application that proposed variations to the wording of conditions related to parking and access in and around the site. It was not a proposal to avoid dealing with the issues altogether. The conditions concerned required submission and agreement of information prior to the commencement of development. The developer proposed to change this to prior to occupation or use of the development. In fact, the application has been withdrawn and the matter dealt with as a non-material amendment to the planning permission.

There are a number of conditions that have been dishcarged and a number that require further work. My understanding is that the conditions that have yet to be discharged will be for the appointed contractor to deal with. In terms of the information submitted to date, it is available to view on the Council's website.

Many thanks for your kind words.

Team Leader (East Area)
Development Control
------------------------------------

This would suggest nearly everything is in place and we are only awaiting the naming of the contractor now.......

Not a big deal, it only costs about £50 to move a newt. Problem is there can be a couple of thousand in a colony