Planning permission granted

[North Banker]

I may be in the minority here but I'm actually quite pleased that the new ground will be surrounded by houses, the kids growing up there will end up going to matches and being fans so in just a few short years there will be a soul to the place.

Compare it to out of town, concrete car park bowls where everyone has to drive to the match its a big improvement

Absolutely. The original plans would have had it at the back of yet another soulless out of town retail park of the type that are destroying our towns and cities from the outsides in...and the alternative is being a central part of a new community, and making a big contribution to solving the horrendous housing market in this country? Sign me up. A much more reliable income source for the club too.

 

[Strykr]

Absolutely. The original plans would have had it at the back of yet another soulless out of town retail park of the type that are destroying our towns and cities from the outsides in...and the alternative is being a central part of a new community, and making a big contribution to solving the horrendous housing market in this country? Sign me up. A much more reliable income source for the club too.

We arent getting income from property sales or rent though.

Which imo defeats the purpose, a point or two of rental income in perpetuity would have made this infinitely more invaluable to sufc. Instead a lot of money is going to be made from the demolishing of the hall and not to the club.

 

[brigg blue]

We arent getting income from property sales or rent though.

Which imo defeats the purpose, a point or two of rental income in perpetuity would have made this infinitely more invaluable to sufc. Instead a lot of money is going to be made from the demolishing of the hall and not to the club.

My view is that the private landlord rental sector is one that's harming a lot of people around the world. Housing is a basic human right, not an investment opportunity and there should be heavy taxation on any second or more domestic property that a person or company owns that it discourages buy to let / investment / holiday homes

 

[tommy tucker]

Why is so many people worried about Southend united getting moneys from any houses built around the ground .There are many houses and flats around roots hall .Including the block of flats behind the south stand .Southend do not provit from any of them .So things will stay the same in our new home .

 

[Jay_SUFC]

Why is so many people worried about Southend united getting moneys from any houses built around the ground .There are many houses and flats around roots hall .Including the block of flats behind the south stand .Southend do not provit from any of them .So things will stay the same in our new home .

Because we don't own those and sold the land off and made our money from that!!

As far as I understand (and I could be wrong) we will own the new flats, or at least some, and get income from the rented ones.

 

[JD]

As far as I understand (and I could be wrong) we will own the new flats, or at least some, and get income from the rented ones.

Not sure about that.
I am pretty sure the football club will own zilch.
New ground still owned by Ron, leased to the the football club in its entirety and we take all match day and non match day income, is my understanding.

Do we know if Ron is expecting the club to actually pay its rent in the new ground?
Or will he just accumulate the debt on the holding co’s balance sheet again?

 

[rigsby]

We arent getting income from property sales or rent though.

Which imo defeats the purpose, a point or two of rental income in perpetuity would have made this infinitely more invaluable to sufc. Instead a lot of money is going to be made from the demolishing of the hall and not to the club.

Under Ron, the club will own some of the flats and use that to fund the team. Unless of course the new owner decides otherwise.

 

[Kat_r]

The whole thing is very confusing. Would be nice to have access to basic facts surrounding all this.
I think we are capable of processing them.

 

[hlane17]

I have heard through the grapevine that groundworks have started for gas, electricity and water supply to the site.

Not sure if anyone properly ITK would want to verify this claim if true?

 

[tommy tucker]

Ok you say our new ground will be owned by Ron Martin and he will rent the ground to us .Well 1 and please correct me if i am wrong does he not rent roots hall to the club but claims no rent .And two Colchester united had there new stadium built selling there old ground for houses to be built .There nice new stadium that is not owned by them but rented from Colchester council .

 

[Kat_r]

I can’t see it holding concerts to much noise and surrounded by houses so no income from that

Agreed. Isn’t there meant to be a restaurant? Again, though with noise and traffic I’m not sure. Hospitality sector now have to treat workers better with pay and conditions (a good thing, waiters are people too) and a lot of restaurants go bust early so it’s risky.

 

[Kat_r]

Oh yes it can I'm afraid.

Yup. There’s a chance the Ron years will look stable and civilised compared with what could be to come...

 

[tallboyblue]

Ron used to say he wanted to get back to the Championship. That’s a long way off now but if that it is still his dream he will have to find extra funding from somewhere.Gate income a few concerts and housing etc is nothing really.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Ok you say our new ground will be owned by Ron Martin and he will rent the ground to us .Well 1 and please correct me if i am wrong does he not rent roots hall to the club but claims no rent .And two Colchester united had there new stadium built selling there old ground for houses to be built .There nice new stadium that is not owned by them but rented from Colchester council .

I believe you are correct, and that it is a financially correct, if morally challenged, arrangement which stops profit happening, and so stops tax being paid on that. Companies, and clubs, with shareholders who expect profit and dividends are in a minority and we are are certainly not included there in.

 

[Strykr]

Under Ron, the club will own some of the flats and use that to fund the team. Unless of course the new owner decides otherwise.

Initially i assumed the whole point was to have a consistent income stream from rental but i thought it was confirmed that that wasnt going to happen and it would be hospitality only that would bring in £

Can someone in the know chime in about this?

 

[Kat_r]

Im certainly not in the know but that’s why I’ve been saying where is the business model for the hospitality side of it? How much will the council allow given the location etc etc ?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I have heard through the grapevine that groundworks have started for gas, electricity and water supply to the site.

Not sure if anyone properly ITK would want to verify this claim if true?

Thanks for that update mate! Shame nobody seems interested and only want to disappear down the rabbit hole of prophesying the future financial structure / ownership etc…

Does anyone live near the Fossetts site who can confirm boots on the ground please?

 

[Cockle43]

I'd like to hear a proper rationale for why our stadium needs to be built in phases.

Another reason is that there isn't a bottomless pit of the appropriately skilled workers in each trade that are required to build such large developments all at once.
If you look at any large developments the developers aren't building all of the units at the same time, it simply isn't logistically feasible to do so.

There is also an issue of materials to be considered you can't just pop to Ready Mix and ask for X hundreds of tonnes of concrete to be delivered next Wednesday morning... They are much more able to tell you that they can deliver X/150 every Wednesday morning for the next 150 weeks.

Such large projects aren't like doing a Nick Knowles' 'DIY SOS'... and you can see what chaos they are with all the trades trying to get on a site!

A site my son worked on in West London had been ongoing for four years when he arrived in 2018 and still had seven to go when he left in 2020...

 

[Cockle43]

Thanks for that update mate! Shame nobody seems interested and only want to disappear down the rabbit hole of prophesying the future financial structure / ownership etc…

Does anyone live near the Fossetts site who can confirm boots on the ground please?

I was over there on the next door site last week and nothing obvious.

 

[londonblue]

My view is that the private landlord rental sector is one that's harming a lot of people around the world. Housing is a basic human right, not an investment opportunity and there should be heavy taxation on any second or more domestic property that a person or company owns that it discourages buy to let / investment / holiday homes

Disagree. Around the world is a bit of an exaggeration. For example, AFAIA in Germany almost no-one owns a house. Nearly everyone rents. The difference is that once the rent has been set it can't change for however long you live in the property, which could be decades.