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According to the Echo the plans for Fossetts are to be considered at a development control meeting on June 6.
 
First artists impression picture to be released and details of the new proposed Roots Hall development.

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ECHO said:
Southend United has given a first glimpse of its plans for Roots Hall when the Blues move to their new home at Fossetts Farm.

A preliminary plan for 469 homes, set to be built when the Roots Hall stadium is demolished, has been lodged with Southend Council – less than the formerly proposed 675 homes.

The plans show a mix of four to 12-storey blocks with 610 parking spaces with access from Victoria Avenue, Shakespeare Drive and Roots Hall Avenue.

The “screening opinion” will assess whether the club needs to carry out an environmental impact assessment.

Club chairman Ron Martin said: “Subject to a further pre-application meeting with the council we envisage being in a position to submit a detailed planning application for Roots Hall around the end of June.

“The proposal to regenerate Roots Hall will provide much needed homes in the borough once the club has moved to its new stadium.”

Plans for the new stadium off Eastern Avenue were lodged with Southend Council last year and are expected to be considered at a development control meeting on June 6.

The 21,000-seater stadium at Fossetts will also have a mix of shops, restaurants and flats along with a hotel and multi-screen cinema.

The Roots Hall site in Victoria Avenue is pivotal to the Fossetts plans, providing funding towards the new stadium.

The ambitious plans have been beset with problems, with Sainsbury’s backing out of proposals to build a major supermarket on the Roots Hall site citing changes in the economic climate at the time.

Tony Cox, councillor responsible for adults and housing, welcomed the prospect of new homes on the vast site, but urged caution over their affordability.

Mr Cox said: “Homes are needed but they have to be done in the right way. I’m pleased to see this moving forward if Fossetts Farm comes to fruition.

“It’s always interesting with outline planning permission to get a flavour of what the intended use will be.”

Mr Cox added: “If the homes are affordable it can only be a good thing but that’s the key. The average person can’t get on the housing ladder now. House prices are spiralling above what people can afford.”
 
From the above it looks like the type of development that will appeal politically - especially if the affordability piece is pitched right. Councils under huge pressure to find sites for such homes in meaningful numbers and it would very difficult politically to stand in the way.
 
Will that give us a yes or a no or are we likely to have to wait for another decision?

Just noticed on the council website that the 'Agreed Expiry Date' of the application has now been put back to 31st Oct 2018. I don't think this is overly important but probably a reaslisation that the discussion of the plans with planning officers will take that bit longer and may not be concluded within the next two months as originally hoped. I therefore doubt that it will be discussed next month. However I will still check the agenda planned for the Development Control Committee meeting on 6th June (to be put online on the councils planning website on Wednesday 30th) as I do every month just in case it is included. My hope, and I'm sure some people would say it is blind optimism, is that decision day is on the horizon and the perpetual mirage we've had to date will be a thing of the past.

The Roots Hall application has been validated and so another piece of the complex jigsaw is in place. This, along with current Fossetts discussions, reassures me that the whole massive project is still progressing. As to whether the final approval/rejection decision is taken at the DCC meeting without the need to go to full council approval is something I don't know. Maybe someone on the zone with planning procedural knowledge could enlighten us.

We just need to hear the final whistle now and move onto a new era for the Blues.
 
I've not been involved with this project, but have had a fair amount of input into the Essex County Cricket Ground which collapsed a week or so ago. Projects of this scale are so involved and need the planets to line up for them to take place. Even with their current success ECCC are back to where they started nine years ago. The Fossett Farm project seems to have gone macro in all aspects, which to me screams SUFC are going to be a secondary consideration. The Cricket club had exactly the same problem, where the developer just wasn't interested in what was best for the Cricket Club, now they are off to court to thrash out who's responsible for a decade of propaganda.
Ground sharing of stadia has to come in this country, certainly among the lower leagues, I want Ron to be right as to FF but working in Sustainable Communities in Local Government makes you a skeptic. This development would be one of the largest undertaken in Essex in recent memory, lets hope it is right for our club or just not another developers pipe dream.:sad:
 
I think it was mentioned either at the AGM or somewhere else that they're planning for it to go to the Committee late summer.
 
I'm confused. Without BL we haven't got a backer ? No backer, no stadium.

Is it me ?
 
I'm confused. Without BL we haven't got a backer ? No backer, no stadium.

Is it me ?

Yes that's what I thought when I first heard the news. However Ron said he has other financial sources which will mean the club is better off as BL wanted to bigger slice.
 
Yes that's what I thought when I first heard the news. However Ron said he has other financial sources which will mean the club is better off as BL wanted to bigger slice.

Anybody that is prepared to take a gamble on this, is entitled to a huge slice of the action in my opinion.
Is a bad deal, better than no deal ? (I've heard that before, somewhere !!)
 
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