18,000 seems too small for big bands and too big for small bands, we are hardly blessed with a massive recent history of local musical talent

But man, had all the acts at the International Arts Festival congretated there for one big closing performance or something it would have been fantastic. Music licences aren't just for bands. With just a titchy bit of imagination all sorts of music related events - or even events with music incidental to them - could take place there.

This is what makes the wenbley pitch so nasty, no to music events, other sports such as Liverpool/everton reserves no probs

Condition 6 states on the planning document
"No open air concerts shall be held at the Stadium."

As i said earlier it does not mean they cant apply for that condition to be lifted temproarily or amended.
But they would have to apply for permission.

Interestingly when it comes to who can play at the stadium. This is what it says.

The use of the stadium playing pitch shall be used solely for hosting
sporting events that shall be limited to the following:
St Helens RLFC first, reserve and youth team rugby league fixtures
Other domestic RUGBY AND cup competition fixtures
St Helens Town FC fixtures
INTERNATIONAL RUGBY FIXTURES
NO OTHER SPORTING EVENTS SHALL TAKE PLACE WITHOUT
THE WRITTEN AGREEMENT OF THE COUNCIL AS LOCAL
PLANNING AUTHORITY

Hence Liverpool or Everton reserves cant play their unless Saints get the ok from the Council

Oh. Ok.

I thought St Helens Town weren't playing at our new stadium? Damn shame if they are. They wreck our pitch.

Don't get me wrong I'm not doubting the facilities are capable of being a fantastic arena, i'm a bit more doubtful we could go anyway to filling it enough to justify its worth (at the moment) - I have to admit I didn't even know it was on in St Helens last week, what sort of audiences did the Arts Festival get?

If we can get temporary change of useage, another aspect would be our season with friendlies runs from January/February to late September which would mean unless we consider use mid season the pitch area would be more at risk from damage due to being used in poor conditions - though if this week is anything to go by that might be a point anytime lol!!

www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/8...r_new_stadium/ Seems that now 2011 has finally been sorted as having to be totally on the road there are slightly more realistic timescales in place!

www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/8...r_new_stadium/ Seems that now 2011 has finally been sorted as having to be totally on the road there are slightly more realistic timescales in place!

So you expect that St Helens Council and Regional Development should only support rugby league? it is the use by the full community that brings the support that has been rightly given.

“We look forward over the next 12 to 24 months when we will see the stadium rise from the ground.

Not as many as they could have done, had it been advertised properly and had it not piddled it down periodically. It was a fantastic idea that if repeated (with fine tuning) and properly advertised could turn into a terrific event. However, it was EU/NWDA funded and so I guess that it was a one-off.


Well, yes, exactly. The pitch could be ruined just by being outdoors! In the off-season having events there which involved music could be a neat way to raise some extra cash but I suppose it will all depend on weighing up the benefits to the risks. If Saints perceive it as a useful gap in the market to fill then I'm sure they will apply for a licence.

(a) There is plenty of fecking soccer in this neck of the woods; soccer in St Helens does not need supporting.
(b) The Council has not funded the stadium. The stadium belongs to the Saints. Unless it is still a precondition of Sport England funding that we have more than one sport using the stadium, and the only other sport using the stadium would have to be soccer, then all we are doing is inviting great big worn patches at each end of the pitch with a scraggly mess in the middle.

I think you will find that St Helens Council and the Northwest Regional Development Agency did support the development of the site and the bringing about of the new stadium **, of course it goes without saying that Sports England want to see as much sport and use by the community as possible they are not sport rugby league!

Lets get the Stadium built and used as much as possible without doing any serious damage to the stadium instead of starting to whine now!


**
"The development partners, which include Langtree, St Helens Council, the Northwest Regional Development Agency and Saints club, says the regeneration of the site will lead to 1,400 new jobs"

The council could have made it conditional to planning consent being granted, of course, so forcing Saints' hand so far as the stadium is concerned but the partners are partners in the redevelopment of the whole site, not in the building of Saints' stadium. That is down to Saints. I think it must be the Sport England money which influenced Saints because originally, they made it clear that the soccer team wouldn't be playing there (and the soccer team tried to sue).

So you are claiming that no one other than St Helens RLFC and Sports England financed the development and the forthcoming preparation of the ground, meaning no other grants?

No, that's not what I said. I said that in order to secure Sport England money, Saints had to enable other sports to be played at their ground. That money has been in place for a few years now. I can only think that it is the retention of Sport England money which has led Saints to change their minds about allowing the soccer team to play on our ground, as they stated specifically about two years ago that this wouldn't be the case in the new stadium. Either that or the Council inserted a condition into the planning consent that the soccer team must stay.

Sport England haven't financed the ground. As I say, that grant has been in place for years now. But it's a revenue stream and so if they had to retain the soccer team in order to retain the grant then I can see why they have done so.

According to Saints, only Saints are funding the stadium build.

Chris, that seems to be the case in the clubs statements, but in interviews on the radio etc its not so clean cut, they still hint at maybe it could be ready earlier.
I should think its to do with season ticket sales, they cant sell season tickets with the promise of x number of games to be played at the new stadium when delays could very easily happen.
Its a case of plan to play all season at Widnes, home games at the new stadium will be a bonus.
Also of importance to the club is the number of games at the new stadium next season (if any) the club will have a figure in mind, to maximise on the impact that a new stadium brings, not enough games and I dont think you will see a game there till 2012 season when they can get the full benifit of a new stadium and all the hype that goes with it.

A couple of different vans on the site today, parked on the waste land were the Tesco car park will be, so things look like they are moving on pretty quickly.

Shall go and have a gander BL.

Got told its the same firm that shifted Triplex that's been hired to knock down the warehouses, if true it wont take them long.

I saw a B&Q lorry drive past this morning and for a minute i thought it might be dropping something off?

Nowt there, but have been told they are/have been inside doing the drilling and checking for contamination, and have found some contamination.

FFS,did they say what it is.

The picture below is brazenly stolen from the KC stadium website(Mods, no copyright is infringed as no copyright is inferred from said picture & it is used solely for discussion purposes only which is legally allowed)
Probably 40k at the least to watch Bon Jovi a couple of years ago (in a 25k stadium with a large portion of the seats not used, (obviously)) I couldn't see why your new stadium couldn't be used (successfully) for such events.

Probably pot plants for the new portakabins.

here is the stadium ticket pricing info , got to say its a great deal over 5 years

Just a quick post to fix in your minds the layout of the site

i mocked up an overlay a while ago