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Roots Hall Planning Application

Yes, the optimistic view is that the Council realise that the club is teetering on the brink and if they don't act now and the club goes under then Ron will be free to negotiate housing deals with anyone. So this could indeed be a vital moment. Fingers crossed....
Indeed- whether or not we are actually teetering its difficult to believe Ron isn't using this as a moment of maximum "encouragement"..
 
Isn't there also the issue of those tower blocks by Queensway being demolished in the not too distant future? Getting this through and some of that housing built will enable residents to be rehoused.

The residents of the Queensway tower blocks have been offered rehousing in the new development. The Queensway redevelopment will be in several phases enabling the re-homing of the residents of each block before each is demolished. Therefore the re-homing of Queensway residents is not really a driving force behind the Roots Hall scheme.
 
The residents of the Queensway tower blocks have been offered rehousing in the new development. The Queensway redevelopment will be in several phases enabling the re-homing of the residents of each block before each is demolished. Therefore the re-homing of Queensway residents is not really a driving force behind the Roots Hall scheme.

Phew!
 
Think this emergency powers meeting is going to be about Southend Borough Council investing or not investing in a big money long term leasehold deal between the council and developer Citizen Housing which Jack Martin is a director (The potential developer of all the housing on the Roots Hall site).
 
If the capacity was at 14,000 but the design allowed for extension should it be necessary, then that would be a good result IMO. Also not bothered about it being residential and not commercial. Over to you Ron.
 
It’s good news that this sounds like a step forward, but at the same time a small disappointment that the plans are not so exciting as the previous iterations. I guess that’s why those plans never became real though.

Like others, I’m interested to see whether the club will get any income streams, aside from match days.

Also, what will parking look like? Previously there was parking through the retail.

And as discussed, what’s the make up of the 14000 / 21000 split on the stadium. If it’s 3 sided, how and when will the 4th side be acquired
 
The difference being that the council have pre agreed these changes.

No they haven't. My understanding is that they've agreed the funding and the principle. They can't pre-agree the changes because they haven't seen the application.
 
Whilst delving through the old planning application yesterday, I was interested to see the land ownership schedule from 2017.

Screenshot 2020-04-15 at 12.16.42.png

This seems to indicate that the existing training ground (coloured red) is owned by Southend Borough Council. I hadn't realised this, presumably this is the main housing area too. It seems that Roots Hall land only own a ransom strip surrounding this part of the site.

I can't see that Roots Hall Land is actually a company, Roots Hall Ltd is controlled by Elounda LLP (basically, Ron and his wife and two sons) but has a charge over it by Topland Jupiter, owner by the Zakays.

Tribeca, who when this plan was produced seemed to control the orange land on which the new stadium is to be built (one day!), seem to be controlled by Jamie Ritblat from Delancey - I'm assuming they're not involved any more.

Maybe one for Napster to confirm following his excellent piece of research previously! http://www.shrimperzone.com/forums/threads/convoluted.102698/
 
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No they haven't. My understanding is that they've agreed the funding and the principle. They can't pre-agree the changes because they haven't seen the application.

Ok. Wrongly worded. Should Southend United PLC submit the plans with the changes (ie) retail to housing, then planning will be granted.

In effect. It's pre agreed as long as the council's views on what they will accept is applied.
 
Ah! So it is now confirmed Allied Commercial Exporters (Jack Dellal £3.8 billion property giant now run by his son Guy, and his grandson Alexander) are the money partner investing in Fossett's and Roots Hall developments, as reported in the ECHO

Citizen Housing: the firm behind plans to build Southend United stadium

imgID165407390.jpg.gallery.jpg
REVEALED: The truth about the firm behind plans to build stadium and 1,300 homes
THE driving force behind the new, long-awaited Southend United football stadium can finally be revealed.

The Echo can today disclose it’s a partnership between the Jack Martin - the son of club chairman Ron, and one of the biggest real estate investment groups in the country - Allied Commercial Exporters, a company founded by real estate giant Jack Dellal.

The little-known Citizen Housing is also a key partner in the eagerly-anticipated, landmark deal with Southend Council and Southend United.

Together, they will endeavour to deliver the planned state-of-the-art football stadium - and more than 1,300 new homes.

But since the deal’s announcement, there has been uncertainty over the identity of housing company and its connections with club chairman Ron Martin.

Under the deal, Citizen Housing will be responsible for delivering about 500 homes on the former stadium site at Roots Hall - and a further 800 on land surrounding the new stadium on Fossetts Farm.

The increased number of homes in the deal means that several leisure elements, including plans for a cinema and shops, have now been dropped from the proposals.

The company will then own the freehold of the homes, while the council will take on a long-term lease in both developments.

This means the council will be provided with an ongoing source of income, through housing rent.

Despite his son’s involvement in Citizen Housing, when the Echo questioned Mr Martin about the people behind Citizen Housing, he claimed it was in fact “a separate corporate entity in which I or the club have no interest”.

But it later emerged the company is a joint venture, with 50 per cent being owned by Allied Commercial Exporters, a company founded by real estate giant Jack Dellal, and 50 per cent being owned by Mr Martin’s son Jack Martin.

The Blues boss then clarified he meant he has “nothing to do corporately with Citizen”.

A spokesman for Southend Council says both Ron and Jack Martin are connected to the companies involved with the deal.

“Ron Martin and Jack Martin are father and son and have common interests in multiple companies, some of which are involved in the transactions,” said the spokesman.

“The principles of Citizen have collective real estate experience spanning many decades across residential and commercial sectors and have financed, structured and developed real estate transactions with a combined value of over £3.8billion.

“In 2018, Citizen made its initial investment into the regeneration of Roots Hall and Fossetts Farm by funding the recapitalisation of Roots Hall Limited, a corporate entity that owns Roots Hall.”

Ron Martin is a co-director of Roots Hall Limited with his son Jack.

Conservative leader councillor Tony Cox insisted he has faith in the council to do business that’s best for the borough.

He said: “It is never helpful to have mixed messages on any financial deal coming through.

“I would hope and trust that the administration when preparing this deal ensured that it financially stacked up and due diligence was undertaken.”

The deputy leader of the party, Meg Davidson, added that it was important the council had done its due diligence.

Before the new stadium and housing can move forward the club will be expected to submit a planning application.

This will be considered by members of the development control committee based on planning regulations.

If planning permission is granted, the way will finally be paved for Citizen Housing to arrange the funding and construction of both the housing sites.

Southend Council will not be required to invest any capital in the development of either site.

Meanwhile, the stadium, near Waitrose in Southend, is due to be funded using a loan from Homes England, which has been provided on the guarantee that the borough will see a boost in housing as a result of the deal finally going through.

Landmark deal comes after years of wrangling

THE landmark deal comes after years of negotiations between the council and Southend United.

The latest planning application for the stadium was submitted in April 2017 and while most applications are considered by the council within six to 12 months, this one became plagued with setbacks.

The council found itself having to negotiate an extension with the club multiple times over the course of three years in the end.

During that time, a planning application was also submitted for housing that will be built on the Roots Hall stadium site once it has been demolished.

Early plans for the multi-million-pound stadium would have had a capacity of 21,000 spectators and included home, shops, restaurants, a cinema and four full-sized grass training pitches.

But the ambitious proposals faced opposition from businesses, including Southend Business Improvement District which feared the retail and entertainment options would cause the stadium to compete with the town centre and draw people away from the High Street.

There were further fears that a proposal to redevelop the Seaway car park, off Lucy Road, into a £50m new leisure complex would result in the two developments competing with each other at different ends of the town.

With the new deal struck between the council, the club is now expected to put together a revised planning application that addresses concerns about retail space by replacing it with housing.

Many of the details have already been worked out between the club and the council so it is unlikely there will be another three-year wait before a decision on planning permission is made.

The stadium plan at Fossetts Farm has been subject to a number of planning applications over the years.

The latest deal, including a loan from Homes England, has received great praise from the council and businesses.

Full Story from the ECHO
 
Ok. Wrongly worded. Should Southend United PLC submit the plans with the changes (ie) retail to housing, then planning will be granted.

In effect. It's pre agreed as long as the council's views on what they will accept is applied.

Again, that's not guaranteed because it will depend on the actual plans. We've been here before where RM tried to squeeze in extra retail units. Will he try the same with the residential units? If he does the council may well still reject the plans. Even if the plans have the right number of units they could still be rejected if the layout etc isn't to their liking.

The good news is that the funding has been agreed in principle, but that doesn't for a second mean plans will be approved just because.
 
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