Latest on development of BV Wakefield

[Forever Trinity]

Funding approved by Councillors  hopefull next stage will be demolition of the East Stand from the 4th July 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/61813830

[Damien]

Great news. Onwards and upwards for Wakefield.

[fieldofclothofgold]

Great news looks like it's coming to fruition now . 

[DEANO]

Great news. Only taken 20 plus years to meet the criteria. 

[PREPOSTEROUS]

It took 5 posts, must be some sort of record on this subject. 

[Snowys Backside]

Great news but the term 'polishing a t**d' is one that really comes to mind. 

Location though paramount. 

[RayCee]

Wakey have spent years in SL with a 'traditional' stadium. Wouldn't it be frustratingly ironic that once in their new facility they get relegated to the championship. 

[Leyther_Matt]

Presumably if they crack on with the demolition then there might not be any seating provisions at some point towards the end of the season?

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

1 hour ago, Snowys Backside said:

Great news but the term 'polishing a t**d' is one that really comes to mind. 

Location though paramount. 

Disagree, the new stand looks like it will be great. The street it's on isn't great but it does have that really decent pub on the river near it. I look forward to visiting Bell Vue when done

[M j M]

Great news about the redevelopment.

The laying of a 4g pitch on the main stadium playing surface though is a real tragedy.

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Presumably if they crack on with the demolition then there might not be any seating provisions at some point towards the end of the season?

Nobody goes in the seats anyway , nobody will go in the new ones either 

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Presumably if they crack on with the demolition then there might not be any seating provisions at some point towards the end of the season?

Temporary seating planned elsewhere in the ground for the old fogies.  Leg blankets not included though.

[Morris Wanchuk]

41 minutes ago, M j M said:

Great news about the redevelopment.

The laying of a 4g pitch on the main stadium playing surface though is a real tragedy.

The latest interview given this week by the chairman would suggest that the final decision regarding the pitch hasn’t been made yet & still a chance it could be a hybrid pitch.

[cookey]

Congratulations to Wakefieldand their present management. Hope you maximise non match day revenue. You should ask Gary Hetherington how successful the Headingley Experience is.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

this is what should be built

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-41336104

 

[Just Browny]

10 hours ago, Morris Wanchuk said:

The latest interview given this week by the chairman would suggest that the final decision regarding the pitch hasn’t been made yet & still a chance it could be a hybrid pitch.

Why would they change the current pitch? It is comfortably the only bit of Belle Vue that is top quality.

[JohnM]

Reading the BBC article, it seems to suggest that the £8.8 million is coming from the developers Newmarket. Am I reading that right?

[whatmichaelsays]

9 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Reading the BBC article, it seems to suggest that the £8.8 million is coming from the developers Newmarket. Am I reading that right?

Mostly from them, as well as some from the council and the rest from the club. 

For all of the legitimate criticism that you could level at Wakefield for the state of Belle Vue, it is also entirely fair to acknowledge how they have been shafted in the process of getting to here. They've tried to follow the same path as the likes of Warrington and St Helens through the use of S106 planning, got screwed by both the developer and the council's poor enforcement of that S106, and been left to fight their case ever since. 

People forget how much of a role fortune plays in these sorts of projects. I've said this before and whilst it's not a universally popular view, I have doubts over whether St Helens and Warrington would be playing where they are now had they jumped into bed with Tesco just a couple of years later than they did.

[M j M]

13 minutes ago, whatmichaelsays said:

 

People forget how much of a role fortune plays in these sorts of projects. I've said this before and whilst it's not a universally popular view, I have doubts over whether St Helens and Warrington would be playing where they are now had they jumped into bed with Tesco just a couple of years later than they did.

Totally agree. Belle Vue was starting from a worse place than Knowsley Road or Wilderspool but Wakefield did the right thing to address it like those clubs did but then got totally screwed over. 

To then put up with a decade or more of **** from fans of clubs which struck it lucky has no doubt been particularly irritating.

[The Future is League]

13 hours ago, RayCee said:

Wakey have spent years in SL with a 'traditional' stadium. Wouldn't it be frustratingly ironic that once in their new facility they get relegated to the championship. 

They wont get relegated this season, and at the moment I'm not sure if there will be any relegation from Super League. just promotion from the championship

[Just Browny]

2 hours ago, whatmichaelsays said:

Mostly from them, as well as some from the council and the rest from the club. 

For all of the legitimate criticism that you could level at Wakefield for the state of Belle Vue, it is also entirely fair to acknowledge how they have been shafted in the process of getting to here. They've tried to follow the same path as the likes of Warrington and St Helens through the use of S106 planning, got screwed by both the developer and the council's poor enforcement of that S106, and been left to fight their case ever since. 

People forget how much of a role fortune plays in these sorts of projects. I've said this before and whilst it's not a universally popular view, I have doubts over whether St Helens and Warrington would be playing where they are now had they jumped into bed with Tesco just a couple of years later than they did.

I don't know much about the St Helen's process so I won't comment on that.

I agree there is a lot of luck involved, but I don't think it is purely luck. In the case of Warrington we had a great administrator in the time in Peter Deakin who was very single-minded in getting the council into the right place and creating the visible demand locally so that the change happened. Of course the Tesco money was pivotal and our timing was good/fortunate.

I'm really pleased that Wakefield are getting there.

[whatmichaelsays]

1 hour ago, Just Browny said:

I don't know much about the St Helen's process so I won't comment on that.

I agree there is a lot of luck involved, but I don't think it is purely luck. In the case of Warrington we had a great administrator in the time in Peter Deakin who was very single-minded in getting the council into the right place and creating the visible demand locally so that the change happened. Of course the Tesco money was pivotal and our timing was good/fortunate.

I'm really pleased that Wakefield are getting there.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that it's purely luck. Both those clubs mentioned have worked hard, but Wakefield have worked hard and Castleford have worked hard as well. 

In fact, Wakefield and Castleford have tried to do exactly what Warrington and St Helens did - work with major developments and use S106 planning to support their projects. In the case of Wakefield, that failed because the developer took advantage of a loophole in the planning consent that the council subsequently wouldn't/couldn't enforce. In the case of Castleford, they've been impacted by the collapse of the retail sector (especially "big box" retail) and the rise of online shopping. 

If St Helens or Warrington had launched their projects slightly later and closer to the 2008 recession, where the housing market collapsed and when the grocery retail landscape changed, prompting supermarkets like Tesco to shift away from the "hypermarket" model, would those projects have worked the way they did? We'll never know the answer, but I don't think it's completely unfair to suggest that both clubs could have found themselves in a similar position to Wakefield or Castleford. 

[Wholly Trinity]

5 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

this is what should be built

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-41336104

 

This was a "plan" of the previous owner from 2017 before the club secured the freehold of the stadium and surrounding land.

This is not the current plan. Phase 1 only comprises a new all-seater stand with facities and renovation of the current terraced stand.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

18 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Nobody goes in the seats anyway , nobody will go in the new ones either 

Notes that's a question i am in interested in 

Who will sit in the stand? We don't want another Headingly North stand situation. Can it be incentivized ? Surely as a viewing point to watch a rugby game it will be better facing sideline than shovelled in at that end?

 

 

[Agbrigg]

8 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

this is what should be built

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-41336104

 

That was the plan 'put about' by the head of a money laundering operation for organised crime after he bought the ground for a song. The club and the council could have bought the ground far more cheaply had they stepped in earlier , however they have to thank the advice of a well known local knight and a dodgy developer from missing that opportunity.

This has been one hell of a saga . The club have got nothing like whst was initially promised, but at least have something.