Boost for Blues stadium; Prospects College site ‘sold for £2m’ (From Chelmsford Weekly News)
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Boost for Southend United stadium plans; Prospects College site ‘sold for £2m’
7:00am Monday 16th April 2012 in News
By Stephen Hackwell
Blues chairman Ron Martin
THE last major obstacle blocking Southend United’s stadium move has been cleared.
The Echo understands Sainsbury’s has struck a deal to buy the old Prospects College site, in Fairfax Drive, which is crucial to the Blues’ dream of building a new home at Fossetts Farm.
A stalemate between the college and the supermarket chain, which will develop the college site as part of a new superstore, had threatened to derail the entire project.
However, it is now believed both parties, with the help of Southend Council, have settled on a reported £2million sale.
A source close to the deal said: “That’s the figure I understand has been agreed. Prospects was always happy to sell, but it took some time for it to be smoothed out.”
The Prospects building is at the heart of Sainsbury’s plans to redevelop the Blues’ Roots Hall ground.
In return for the land, the supermarket chain has agreed to bankroll the majority of the new stadium at Fossetts Farm.
Sainsbury’s has already agreed to buy the flats at St Mary’s Court, in Victoria Avenue, bulldoze the buildings and relocate the residents there.
It still needs to buy up a few remaining shops in Victoria Avenue, and the flats above them, with some of the owners believed to be holding out for a higher price.
However, the Prospects site was seen as the key deal which would make or break the project, to the extent that council chiefs agreed in January to use a compulsory purchase order to end the deadlock. That was a move which angered Neil Bates, chief executive of Prospects, who said the college had always been willing to sell and there was no need for “heavy-handedness”.
Council chiefs stepped in to broker a deal, and bosses from Sainsbury’s and Prospects have met in recent weeks to finalise an agreement. It is understood Sainsbury’s still needs to exchange contracts before the sale can be formally completed.
Rob Tinlin, the council’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to be able to help key partners like Southend United and Prospects College, and pave the way for the club to achieve its new stadium – and for Sainsbury’s to gain a new superstore.”
A spokesman for Sainsbury’s refused to comment.
Comments(36)
Brunning999
says...
8:32am Mon 16 Apr 12
SARFENDMAN
says...
8:46am Mon 16 Apr 12
frank & monty
says...
9:06am Mon 16 Apr 12
Please let common sense break out and call a halt to this ridiculous scheme.
No sane Southend supporter can honestly believe that Ron will deliver, considering his track record.
southend_Dave
says...
10:46am Mon 16 Apr 12
frank & monty wrote:Best hope he does or there will be no Southend United.
Oh God!
Please let common sense break out and call a halt to this ridiculous scheme.
No sane Southend supporter can honestly believe that Ron will deliver, considering his track record.
The club is millons in debt, loses a million a year and its future is totally dependant on the redevelopment and moving to a stadium where it can generate more income.
ethel the frog
says...
10:49am Mon 16 Apr 12
frank & monty wrote:I know how you feel but Sainsburys have given SUFC so much money to keep afloat that if the deal does'nt happen they will still want their money back somehow.
Oh God!
Please let common sense break out and call a halt to this ridiculous scheme.
No sane Southend supporter can honestly believe that Ron will deliver, considering his track record.
bong74
says...
11:17am Mon 16 Apr 12
bong74
says...
1:18pm Mon 16 Apr 12
southendreb
says...
1:31pm Mon 16 Apr 12
southend_Dave wrote:A good investment for Sainsburys. I wonder if they will do a Tescos and say we cant build the houses now.
frank & monty wrote: Oh God! Please let common sense break out and call a halt to this ridiculous scheme. No sane Southend supporter can honestly believe that Ron will deliver, considering his track record.Best hope he does or there will be no Southend United. The club is millons in debt, loses a million a year and its future is totally dependant on the redevelopment and moving to a stadium where it can generate more income.
Max Impact
says...
1:46pm Mon 16 Apr 12
bong74 wrote:The planning approval states that the Sainsburys store can only be built if the new stadium is built and is in use.
So if sainsburys are going to bankroll the stadium, can someone tell me why the stadium will not be built, and also if sainsbury will now own roots hall, where are the blues going to play football!!!
Wonder if we will see a Camp Roots Hall from the tree huggers.
southendreb
says...
2:04pm Mon 16 Apr 12
Techy - SOL
says...
2:56pm Mon 16 Apr 12
The mistrust for the chairman aside, the football club does need to move from Roots Hall to stand any chance of being a successful football club.
You only need to look at where Swansea City were 10 years ago to realise that a new stadium can bring success... however, I feel that we will be paying for this move for a good many years to come, so whether we can emulate Swansea City in that same time-frame is open to considerable debate and in my eyes, is very doubtful... we'll see, I guess!!!
1nails
says...
5:15pm Mon 16 Apr 12
......
"Southend-Sainsbury'
s United".
And slowly,(quickly), get rid of Martin........Can't wait.!!!!
SARFENDMAN
says...
5:21pm Mon 16 Apr 12
Max Impact
says...
6:27pm Mon 16 Apr 12
SARFENDMAN wrote:The vacant space in your head where your brain should be...
Could an empty Fossetts Farm Football Stadium be added to other vacant sites up for grabs just like Warrior Square Cafe and Pier Hill Shop after the club goes bust? Think no money left in the kitty to run the club once all finished. Sainsbury's & Ron's bank account will be the biggest winners.
southendshrimper
says...
7:25pm Mon 16 Apr 12
A Dermot
says...
8:22pm Mon 16 Apr 12
southendshrimper wrote:Nice big shiny new empty stadium with hardly anyone to fill it.
Being a Southend fan when the new ground dose go ahead it will be fantastic for both the club & town.
Max Impact
says...
11:30pm Mon 16 Apr 12
ethel the frog
says...
8:35am Tue 17 Apr 12
A Dermot wrote:My sides are still aching from that hilarious comment......any more little gems?
southendshrimper wrote:Nice big shiny new empty stadium with hardly anyone to fill it.
Being a Southend fan when the new ground dose go ahead it will be fantastic for both the club & town.
bong74
says...
11:13am Tue 17 Apr 12
SARFENDMAN
says...
11:55am Tue 17 Apr 12
Max Impact wrote:No need stoop to rudeness.
SARFENDMAN wrote: Could an empty Fossetts Farm Football Stadium be added to other vacant sites up for grabs just like Warrior Square Cafe and Pier Hill Shop after the club goes bust? Think no money left in the kitty to run the club once all finished. Sainsbury's & Ron's bank account will be the biggest winners.The vacant space in your head where your brain should be...
Roch243
says...
1:08pm Tue 17 Apr 12
Max Impact
says...
1:18pm Tue 17 Apr 12
Loose loose situation for Southend with these people in town.
What would you rather no changes ever no new facilitys ever no expanding of current services ever or a growing town with new facilitys if you do not want change go to Zimbabwe I'm sure you would fit in well...
bong74
says...
1:28pm Tue 17 Apr 12
It must be the same for all the other new stadium,s that are going through planning,and the final prosess of being built. maybe, all there fan's moan as well. say, if we are sitting in the new stadium watching a game! what will we moan at next!! no dought there will be something.
frank & monty
says...
1:34pm Tue 17 Apr 12
bong74 wrote:You'll be moaning about the time it's taken you to get there for a start, seeing as Fossetts is one of the least accessible places in the Borough to reach by car.
why are so many people moaning about this stadium. It must be the same for all the other new stadium,s that are going through planning,and the final prosess of being built. maybe, all there fan's moan as well. say, if we are sitting in the new stadium watching a game! what will we moan at next!! no dought there will be something.
Secondly you'll be moaning about how bl00dy cold it is, what with there only being three sides to the stadium (plural stadia, by the way), as Ron has had to downsize his plans as he does not have a pot to p1ss in.
Hopefully the only thing you won't have to moan about is the football.
Benfleetexile1
says...
5:13pm Tue 17 Apr 12
This, I fear will also be moaned about.
southendshrimper
says...
6:22pm Tue 17 Apr 12
holman
says...
8:04pm Tue 17 Apr 12
thundersleycobbler
says...
8:53pm Tue 17 Apr 12
southendreb
says...
9:06pm Tue 17 Apr 12
Max Impact wrote:I hope not this silly at your investers meeting But let me ask you WHERE is the stadium it was promised years ago. Pehaps the fans should find how the club THEY owned was sold down the river.Pleas tell me what has changed for the better Max.
The anti's are the people who moan aboout change but still moan when nothing happens. Loose loose situation for Southend with these people in town. What would you rather no changes ever no new facilitys ever no expanding of current services ever or a growing town with new facilitys if you do not want change go to Zimbabwe I'm sure you would fit in well...
Felix Billy
says...
9:24pm Tue 17 Apr 12
Max Impact
says...
11:31pm Tue 17 Apr 12
Second part is the most important to try and secure the funding for Sea master a submersible works module that can act either tethered to a ship via an umbilical or act totally independently and dethatched from any surface vessel.
It has been designed as a deep sea works unit that can send divers out to work on what needs repairing so that they do not have to descend down a line from the surface or with the use of robotic arms the guys can remain inside to do the work without entering the water, it will also house a decompression chamber the first of its type on a submersible very experimental and a venture that could be a massive success or a huge failure…
On to Southend related issues…
The stadium has not been built because of planning wrangles, land purchase wrangles and money simple as that.
Firestormgjc
says...
1:32pm Wed 18 Apr 12
southendreb wrote:Southend fans never owned the club
Max Impact wrote: The anti's are the people who moan aboout change but still moan when nothing happens. Loose loose situation for Southend with these people in town. What would you rather no changes ever no new facilitys ever no expanding of current services ever or a growing town with new facilitys if you do not want change go to Zimbabwe I'm sure you would fit in well...I hope not this silly at your investers meeting But let me ask you WHERE is the stadium it was promised years ago. Pehaps the fans should find how the club THEY owned was sold down the river.Pleas tell me what has changed for the better Max.
They did own the ground at one point, but they gave it to the club and the chairman before RM decided it needed to be sold to clear the debts accrued in the mid 90's
chelmsfordshrimper
says...
7:56pm Thu 19 Apr 12
Nebs
says...
8:19pm Thu 19 Apr 12
chelmsfordshrimper wrote:Yes, but all the money the club makes from the sale of roots hall, and the income from the new retail park, and the income from the casino, and the income from the hotel, can be invested in the team which should then be quite capable of moving up a couple of divisions.
we can't even fill roots hall so what's the point in getting a 22000 seater stadium with 6000 turning up we would need to be in te championship to stand any chance of filling that stadium.
Unless, of course, it is all structured so as the owners get all those profits and the team is left to muddle along as before.
bong74
says...
11:12am Mon 23 Apr 12
Nebs says...
8:11am Mon 16 Apr 12
http://www.echo-news
.co.uk/sport/blues/7
983297.College___s_f
rustration_as_Roots_
Hall_deal_falters/
or 2011
http://www.echo-news
.co.uk/news/local_ne
ws/southend/9117355.
Frustrated_college_b
oss_says_Roots_Hall_
deal_is_dead/
or 2009
http://www.echo-news
.co.uk/news/local_ne
ws/southend/4589626.
College__No_deal_for
_Roots_Hall_site/