[Bulliac]

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Fri Nov 29, 2019 2:50 pm  

Avenue did have aspirations though.

They were wanting to reach the football league not long back but I'm far from sure Horsfall would satisfy the requirements, to be honest, at least not without a fair bit spending on it. Even if they did, there are the on-going problems with off-road car parking and little chance of any on-site.

[Pumpetypump]

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Fri Nov 29, 2019 3:46 pm  

Bulliac wrote:

Avenue did have aspirations though.

They were wanting to reach the football league not long back but I'm far from sure Horsfall would satisfy the requirements, to be honest, at least not without a fair bit spending on it. Even if they did, there are the on-going problems with off-road car parking and little chance of any on-site.

Given the constraints of their ground and its surroundings, what they probably need is to ground share in some sort of, shall we say, "boutique" stadium. I have no idea if there's anyone planning such a thing though.

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Sat Nov 30, 2019 10:47 am  

Pumpetypump wrote:

Given the constraints of their ground and its surroundings, what they probably need is to ground share in some sort of, shall we say, "boutique" stadium. I have no idea if there's anyone planning such a thing though.

If only there was a recently vacated council owned site that was at a perfect location near by the motorway and transport links that would support such a site

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Sat Nov 30, 2019 11:28 am  

roofaldo2 wrote:

If only there was a recently vacated council owned site that was at a perfect location near by the motorway and transport links that would support such a site

You'll never find anywhere like that. If you did we would have to change our names to Bradford Unicorns and have a rainbow strip.

[Bulliac]

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Sun Dec 01, 2019 11:06 am  

Pumpetypump wrote:

Given the constraints of their ground and its surroundings, what they probably need is to ground share in some sort of, shall we say, "boutique" stadium. I have no idea if there's anyone planning such a thing though.

Sitting down right now, with pencil paper and a fair wodge of cash?

Far too much to expect - even "boutique" stadia cost at least a full arm and the best part of a leg.

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:30 am  

Bulliac wrote:

Avenue did have aspirations though.

They were wanting to reach the football league not long back but I'm far from sure Horsfall would satisfy the requirements, to be honest, at least not without a fair bit spending on it. Even if they did, there are the on-going problems with off-road car parking and little chance of any on-site.

The redevelopment plans that Gareth Roberts showed me include a new 160 space carpark at the Park Road end of the ground.

Obviously, Park Road would be accessible via Huddersfield Road and Common Road.

That would help to alleviate some of the pressure on Halifax and Cemetery Road.

[Bulliac]

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:08 pm  

MicktheGled wrote:

The redevelopment plans that Gareth Roberts showed me include a new 160 space carpark at the Park Road end of the ground.

Obviously, Park Road would be accessible via Huddersfield Road and Common Road.

That would help to alleviate some of the pressure on Halifax and Cemetery Road.

There is some room round that end of the ground though by room, I mean 'not built on', much of it is part of the athletics 'field' events area. I got the impression from the T&A reports that Avenue, or Mr Roberts, seemed to be talking as though the athletics track might go at some point, though I've no idea if that is actually going to happen.

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Tue Dec 03, 2019 3:13 pm  

Bulliac wrote:

There is some room round that end of the ground though by room, I mean 'not built on', much of it is part of the athletics 'field' events area. I got the impression from the T&A reports that Avenue, or Mr Roberts, seemed to be talking as though the athletics track might go at some point, though I've no idea if that is actually going to happen.

Logically, Horsfall needs to be developed purely as a small athletics stadium, for county level events. I don't know if Bradford has something like that already.
Then BPA, Bulls and the council (maybe with some FA, RFL, sport England funding) need to build & share a moderately sized community sports stadium.

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Tue Dec 03, 2019 7:28 pm  

Highlander wrote: Logically, Horsfall needs to be developed purely as a small athletics stadium, for county level events. I don't know if Bradford has something like that already. Then BPA, Bulls and the council (maybe with some FA, RFL, sport England funding) need to build & share a moderately sized community sports stadium. Many great examples of this kind of development around, one of which I was very lucky to be involved with developing in York. https://www.google.com/maps/search/university+of+york+athletics+stadium/@53.943851,-1.0549211,260m/data=!3m1!1e3 However, this one was part of the deal that has seen the new community stadium being developed which we will see first hand next season. It directly replaced an older facility (much like Horsfall) but the difference was that this was located on a prime piece of land ideal for a new stadium and adjoining leisure/retail facilities. Funds would need to be generated to make this a reality but as I've posted before, its not out of the realms of possibility to make it work. We have some prime locations available in the city and depending on the outcome of the general election, there could be some construction companies looking for new site locations in the very near future. That could generate at least some of the funds. Add this with potential partners in the NHS and HE sector then you could have a very interesting project. One thing I do feel however is that no matter how much it gets muted, Horsfall Stadium is not a suitable venue for a community stadium and add to the fact that any closure of an athletics stadium without like for like replacement would be subject to appeal from both club and NGB and in all likelyhood would be never approved. Horsfall needs to be left as it is... it serves it purpose as a local community stadium for athletics, football and maybe rugby too (reserve and academy fixtures perhaps). So what would it take to get this done? Time, patience (lots of it), a will to make it happen and collective buy in from all who will benefit from it (in York it had buy in from Council, Community and local sports clubs York City and City Knights). This was a project that the current CEO of Bradford Council oversaw as part of her similar role at York and whilst there were several bumps in the road they did get it done (albeit 12yrs on). Surely she more than anyone can provide a great insight with her past experinece of a similar aim and ambition?

Highlander wrote: Logically, Horsfall needs to be developed purely as a small athletics stadium, for county level events. I don't know if Bradford has something like that already. Then BPA, Bulls and the council (maybe with some FA, RFL, sport England funding) need to build & share a moderately sized community sports stadium. Many great examples of this kind of development around, one of which I was very lucky to be involved with developing in York. https://www.google.com/maps/search/university+of+york+athletics+stadium/@53.943851,-1.0549211,260m/data=!3m1!1e3 However, this one was part of the deal that has seen the new community stadium being developed which we will see first hand next season. It directly replaced an older facility (much like Horsfall) but the difference was that this was located on a prime piece of land ideal for a new stadium and adjoining leisure/retail facilities. Funds would need to be generated to make this a reality but as I've posted before, its not out of the realms of possibility to make it work. We have some prime locations available in the city and depending on the outcome of the general election, there could be some construction companies looking for new site locations in the very near future. That could generate at least some of the funds. Add this with potential partners in the NHS and HE sector then you could have a very interesting project. One thing I do feel however is that no matter how much it gets muted, Horsfall Stadium is not a suitable venue for a community stadium and add to the fact that any closure of an athletics stadium without like for like replacement would be subject to appeal from both club and NGB and in all likelyhood would be never approved. Horsfall needs to be left as it is... it serves it purpose as a local community stadium for athletics, football and maybe rugby too (reserve and academy fixtures perhaps). So what would it take to get this done? Time, patience (lots of it), a will to make it happen and collective buy in from all who will benefit from it (in York it had buy in from Council, Community and local sports clubs York City and City Knights). This was a project that the current CEO of Bradford Council oversaw as part of her similar role at York and whilst there were several bumps in the road they did get it done (albeit 12yrs on). Surely she more than anyone can provide a great insight with her past experinece of a similar aim and ambition?

Re: Leaving Odsal and future in general : Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:36 pm  

Bulliac wrote:

There is some room round that end of the ground though by room, I mean 'not built on', much of it is part of the athletics 'field' events area. I got the impression from the T&A reports that Avenue, or Mr Roberts, seemed to be talking as though the athletics track might go at some point, though I've no idea if that is actually going to happen.

From the plans I've seen, the running track would be narrowed to just two lanes from the current six bringing the supporters closer to the action.