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shrimptank

Coach
Joined
Aug 27, 2005
Messages
941
Well, what an afternoon.

Myself, BLUEBLOOD and SUFCEssex got to the meeting and has to blag our way in and finally took our seats in the public gallery about 13.55.

There seemed to be a lot of totally pointless wasted time as the councillors, debated the finer details of the application. We were sitting near McCormack, Harrold and Hunt and there were a few sullen faces at times....though we could not work out if this was because of the onset of rigamortis, or the fact that they really didn't care about if the plans contained gross or net figures....whether "bulky items" would be sold in the retail outlets or if there would be a few trees planted in the car park!

Looking down on the procedings, and at the players lined up seated at the back, it was not hard to notice that JCR seemed to have nodded off, and that Freddy looked like he would rather be anywhere else in the world. AB lokoed rather interested, as did Flav's, and Brushy had the look of an OxBridge student attending a lecture.

About an hour into the meeting it seemed as though there was not going to be anything concrete sorted today as one by one the councillors ummd and arr'd about what appeared to the football fans amongst us to be the most trivial of things.

Then, the unspeakable happened...a propsal to deferr, seconded by another. OH my god, we could not believe it. It suddenly looked doomed. Then, from nowhere, up piped a voice of reason. I cant remember who he was, but he had declared an interest at the start of the meeting. He explained his view of how the club had moved forward, and how other town centres had fought back when "out of town" developments had sprung up.

Suddenly the mood lightened a bit - some positivity had come to town. Prior to this there was not a lot about! (Speaking of Prior, he was really listening intently!)

Then, one of the other councillors, no idea again of his name, (but it was long and began with a V and said he was a Man U fan) started talking. I do not know where his speech and vision came from, but when he stopped there was a tumultuous round of applause from pretty much everyone in the place, and the first proper cheers could be heard outside the building. He talked of International recognition of what we had recently acheived, and the way SOuthend as a town had been put on the world stage. Top Top Man!!!


The tide had turned in favour of the Blues.

They then had a few quiet moments while the Chair discussed a couple of points and then pointed out that he would second the proposal not to defer. Another top bloke!!

They voted on if the approval should be deferred and the show of hands was only 3 in favour, therefore we were set for the final vote to go ahead. When they asked for those against deferral, not only did the rest of the councillors raise their hands, but so did all the players and those of us fortunate enough to be in the public gallery.

Cue.... massive cheers heard vibrating from the waiting crowd of cold Shrimpers outside.

This time, the place was starting to buzz....ever JCR had awoken from his slumber!

Finally, the moment had arrived....... 13 - 0 the vote was, as you will all now be aware. There was NO indication that this would have been the case throught the entire meeting...13 - 0??? No Way. Prior to Cllr "V"s speech i thought it was going to be a "No" vote.

The excitement and relief was pure bliss. The hairs on the neck were standing to attention. The first step had FINALLY, FINALLY after so long trying, been given the green light.

The delight on Ron's face was certainly not hidden, and that of the fans outside was blindingly obvious to hear.

What a great day to be a Shrimper, and another step in the right direction for our beloved Southend United Football Club.
 
sounds amazing would have loved to be there couldnt sort work though, still cant quite believe it, still nervous for tommorow will def be there, when players and fans alike raised hands in unison must have been great.
 
Have to say that when Dr Velmurugan gave his speech it almost brought a tear to a grown man's eye!
 
Sounds like the speaker of the afternoon is this guy:

http://www.southend.gov.uk/democracy/councillors.asp?CllrID=55

Most popular Indian doctor at Roots Hall since Dr Singh?

Dr Velmurugan - my doctor for nigh-on 30 years before I emigrated; a top bloke, even before today's session at the Civic Centre. We always spoke about Southend United and, although he never indicated that he was a football fan, he always believed that one should always support the local football club. It seems he stood by his word today.
 
This Moment for me was a moment to tell the grandchildren about, " I was There When".

When the Chairman said i second the motion to recommend the passing of the application and the cheer from outside was heard by all in the chamber it bought a tear to my eye, it seems like an eternity since the first dream of a new stadium was put forward. To be there with the 300 odd Sufc Supporters is something that i will never forget.

Southend United from The Old Division 4 to the Championship today is why i Love This club of ours. Through thick and thin we are always there.

Congrats to Ron And all connected with the Club - A Job Well Done!
 
Managed to blag our way up to the gallery after my girlfriend complained to one of the councillors that was left out (the guy with the big banner) that we hadn't come all the way down from Reading to stand outside in the cold. What an afternoon. Swung one way and looked to be all over before a rousing couple of speeches from two forward-thinking councillors. I think the elation at the realisation that it was a big fat YES tops that of beating Man United.
 
I too managed to be at my slippery devious best and got into the Chamber at 1.40 , just before the players, most of whom seemed surgically attached to their mobiles . Spinner stood next to me and rang down to Maher and warned him to watch out as he ( Prior) was an assassin. The mood was one of nervous excitement i would say . However although i have been predicting on here that today was merely to rubber stamp the deal i must admit that speaker after speaker dashed my hopes and looking back on what the individuals and the Councils own report said and the numerous objections that they and it raised I am absolutely astounded that they then went on to vote YES 13-0. It seems to fly in the face of what they said during the debate !! ie no affordable housing at FF , highway/ traffic concerns, impact on the Town Cente , i could go on . Now am i missing something or are all these objections to be overlooked ? I am delighted but confused !
 
Section S106

The Section S106 agreement which the club are entering into with the Council, relates to certain things that the Council will require the club to do as part of the development. These restrictions such as, 20 affordable housing flats to be provided on or off the site, no flats not to be occupied prior to stadium opening, hotel not to open before stadium opens, food outlets, bars, retail outlets not to open before the stadium. There will also be funds the club will need to provide or guarantee to give the Council for things such as:-

Funding of local street parking restriction zones, in the residentual areas south of Eastern Avenue.
Funding for additional landscaping.
Funding for road adjustments and improvements around the site, and along Eastern Avenue.
Funding to assist in the regeneration of the High Street.
Funding for local transport provision, (buses, coaches, etc to and from site).

Etc Etc Etc.

In the Echo it was reported that this could add upto some £750,000.

I am sure we will soon get the full list from the club/council.
 
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Roots Hall Development

OK here is my view of what happened in the Council Chamber after the new stadium was approved by a 13-0 landslide in favour of the proposals, and the Chairman stating he was hoping we did not get the same score at Spurs on Sat as he was a Spurs supporter, which got a big cheer from the gallery, all the councillors, officers, and players etc.


After most people left, the Council moved on to discuss the Outlining Planning Permission for the redevelopment of the Roots Hall stadium area. This development is important to the club as it is believed to be partially financing the new Stadium, Flats, and Retail Park at Fossetts Farm.

Another long discussion took place, but most councillors were worried about the numbers of proposed flats, the high number of car parking spaces, and the size of the retail unit, some 1.5 times the size of Tesco’s on the A127.

The council rejected this proposal 10-3, but looked forward to further discussions with the club, should the club wish to proceed with another planning application.


The main reasons for the rejection were-

• Proposed retail store unacceptable as not located within existing centre, not been subject to adequate sequential test, not make positive contribution to Southend Town Centre, likely to prejudice Town Centre role, and not contribute to meeting identified qualitative deficiencies in convenience goods retail provision.

• Residential development is unacceptable as constitute overdevelopment of low-density area, to the detriment of character on surrounding residential amenities through increased traffic and congestion.

• The number of flats and large retail store, up to seven storeys constitutes overdevelopment, resulting in inappropriate buildings, out of character with and detrimental of streetscene by reason of scale, height, overall bulk and lack of context, causing harm to character and appearance of the local scene, and Conservation Area and Listed and Locally Listed buildings.

• Parking provision for the retail store is in excess of maximum standards and applicants not demonstrated that development would not be detrimental to the highway network and amenities generally regarding congestion and traffic/highway dangers.

• Contains insufficient information with regard to flood risk – applying the precautionary principle in PPG25, the risk posed is deemed too great and proposal is contrary to PPG25.

• Insufficient information to demonstrate proposal would not effect a protected species (bats) thereby contrary to the policy.

• The application is unacceptable as insufficient affordable housing provision is made in accordance with the requirements of the emerging Local Development Framework, contrary to Policy CP8 of the submitted Core Strategy DPD.

• In addition full highways assessment and plan will need to be carried out.


Due to this rejection, the council also rejected the planning application for the demolition of a property in the Conservation Area in Victoria Avenue.


The Chairman stated that although the Council were rejecting the current Outline Planning Permission for the Roots Hall area that the club had presented. The council would be quite happy for its officers to discuss with the club any further possible plans the club may have for this Gateway area to the centre of Southend.

Although this must be a disappointment for the club and Ron, the good thing is that the council are willing to help the club in plans to develop this prime Gateway to Southend site.
 
I was inside the meeting, and I too was real jittery about the way things were going, but make no mistake the speech by Dr Velmurugan changed the mood and the rest was a formality. Top man!
 
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