Swindon Stadium

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

I'd suggest that the good councillor gets the council planning department to update its website if everything is ready to go.

[A ORLOV 8,628]

I'd suggest that the good councillor gets the council planning department to update its website if everything is ready to go.

Exactly, as there are outstanding issues that still need to be resolved, unless they have been in the last couple of days.

Will have to see if the meeting program tomorrow tells fans where to park on thursday and for all future meetings.

Edited July 3, 2016 by A ORLOV

[MarkLoramTUFCfan 2]

Is it common knowledge that Gaming International has recently lodged a bid for Torquay United AFC?

GI signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of the club with the current owners in March 2016. This was due to expire on 1 July but it's believed the arrangement has been extended for another month.

Clarke Osborne, chair of GI, registered a company called Riviera Stadium Ltd in March. There's been speculation about a possible site close to Riviera Way the main route into the town (it's at the back of the crematorium for those who know the area).

This site, like the Plainmoor ground, is owned by Torbay Council. The speculation is that GI is only interested in the football club if it can do a land deal with the council. If that's not forthcoming it's expected GI will lose interest.

Torquay supporters are slowly becoming aware of GI's mixed record in developing and replacing sports stadiums. We've heard about the saga at Swindon and know also about what happened at Reading (and at the dog track at Milton Keynes). Those of us with long memories recall that Clarke Osborne was on the scene when GI (in its former guise as the operator of Eastville) saw off Bristol Rovers in the mid 1980s. Extra digging has revealed how GI once attempted to sell Hereford United's ground to a supermarket; we've learned too of its failure to see through more than one football stadium project in Bristol.

There have been a number of online discussions amongst Torquay United supporters the most recent being:

http://torquayfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8858

http://www.​torquayfansforum.co.uk/thread/11946/tufc-takeover-bid-gaming-international

Any thoughts or information would be warmly appreciated. Many thanks for your time. Best wishes for the future of speedway in Swindon.

Edited July 5, 2016 by MarkLoramTUFCfan

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

Exactly, as there are outstanding issues that still need to be resolved, unless they have been in the last couple of days.

Will have to see if the meeting program tomorrow tells fans where to park on thursday and for all future meetings.

Anyone got a friend with a few spare buses and an operator's licence?

[JOS50 150]

Anyone got a friend with a few spare buses and an operator's licence?

The good ideas keep rolling in. Forgot to mention and in the interests of fair play, you also, may get the opportunity to call me an idiot to my face sooner than you might hope.

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

I've just registered and hopefully started another thread about this but is it common knowledge that Gaming International has recently lodged a bid for Torquay United AFC?

 

GI signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of the club with the current owners in March 2016. This was due to expire on 1 July but it's believed the arrangement has been extended for another month.

 

Osborne Clarke, chair of GI, registered a company called Riviera Stadium Ltd in March. There's been speculation about a possible site close to Riviera Way the main route into the town (it's at the back of the crematorium for those who know the area).

 

This site, like the Plainmoor ground, is owned by Torbay Council. The speculation is that GI is only interested in the football club if it can do a land deal with the council. If that's not forthcoming it's expected GI will lose interest.

 

Torquay supporters are slowly becoming aware of GI's mixed record in developing and replacing sports stadiums. We've heard about the saga at Swindon and know also about what happened at Reading (and at the dog track at Milton Keynes). Those of us with long memories recall that Clarke Osborne was on the scene when GI (in its former guise as the operator of Eastville) saw off Bristol Rovers in the mid 1980s. Extra digging has revealed how GI once attempted to sell Hereford United's ground to a supermarket; we've learned too of its failure to see through more than one football stadium project in Bristol.

 

There have been a number of online discussions amongst Torquay United supporters the most recent being:

 

http://torquayfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8858

http://www.​torquayfansforum.co.uk/thread/11946/tufc-takeover-bid-gaming-international

Any thoughts or information would be warmly appreciated. Many thanks for your time. Best wishes for the future of speedway in Swindon.

 

As if the Gulls haven't gone through enough..... Thanks for those additional case studies.

[greyhoundp 990]

I've just registered and hopefully started another thread about this but is it common knowledge that Gaming International has recently lodged a bid for Torquay United AFC?

 

GI signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of the club with the current owners in March 2016. This was due to expire on 1 July but it's believed the arrangement has been extended for another month.

 

Osborne Clarke, chair of GI, registered a company called Riviera Stadium Ltd in March. There's been speculation about a possible site close to Riviera Way the main route into the town (it's at the back of the crematorium for those who know the area).

 

This site, like the Plainmoor ground, is owned by Torbay Council. The speculation is that GI is only interested in the football club if it can do a land deal with the council. If that's not forthcoming it's expected GI will lose interest.

 

Torquay supporters are slowly becoming aware of GI's mixed record in developing and replacing sports stadiums. We've heard about the saga at Swindon and know also about what happened at Reading (and at the dog track at Milton Keynes). Those of us with long memories recall that Clarke Osborne was on the scene when GI (in its former guise as the operator of Eastville) saw off Bristol Rovers in the mid 1980s. Extra digging has revealed how GI once attempted to sell Hereford United's ground to a supermarket; we've learned too of its failure to see through more than one football stadium project in Bristol.

 

There have been a number of online discussions amongst Torquay United supporters the most recent being:

 

http://torquayfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8858

http://www.​torquayfansforum.co.uk/thread/11946/tufc-takeover-bid-gaming-international

Any thoughts or information would be warmly appreciated. Many thanks for your time. Best wishes for the future of speedway in Swindon.

 

 

Dont let GI anywhere near Torquay United, else they might be the end of you.

[MarkLoramTUFCfan 2]

It's incredible Gaming International is attempting to take on a potentially bigger project in Torquay when it's struggling to get Swindon right. What price Swindon if attention is being diverted elsewhere?

 

GI has a choice at Torquay. It could try to maximise the potential of Plainmoor, leased from the council, which has a capacity of 6,000 and has been completely rebuilt in the last twenty-five years. Or it could go looking for another site.Torquay and Paignton are hilly towns with hardly any available flat land. There's Clennon Valley in Paignton between Goodrington beach and the zoo. There's Torquay rugby club on the sea front next to the railway station. Both have been mooted in the past. Each brings problems.

 

Then there's Nightingale Park which is over to the left as you reach the outskirts of town from Newton Abbot. It's promising but it's landfill, swampy, possibly contaminated and near houses. It's not straightforward but probably the only site going in town. Fail on that one and it's Teignbridge and the wrong side of Newton Abbot. At that rate, as much as you'd love to see their revival, you might as well be talking a joint site with Exeter Falcons in the wilds of Chudleigh Knighton or Bovey Tracey. Only joking. I think.

 

GI's name first cropped up just after Christmas. A statement about a bid, and a memorandum of understanding, was made at Easter. That's it really. GI has said absolutely nothing, the present owners very little. The local press hasn't said much either aside from a few snippets about GI operating Poole and Swindon. They're giving the impression GI runs dog tracks in Japan (do they?) and it's all progressing swimmingly with the new stadium in Swindon. We're told GI do what they do very well.

 

The present owners of Torquay United are all of pensionable age. They took the club on in an emergency last year and have very little money to put in. They've survived by cutting costs and relying upon gates which are above average for the league. The directors have told the press they hope to remain in place following a GI takeover.

 

Matters may come to a head very soon. We may know more after the shareholders AGM on 11 July. The key point to remember is the council owns Plainmoor. Torquay United has leased it since the Year Dot. The council also owns Nightingale Park and the playing fields of the school next to Plainmoor. The council is short of cash and needs building land. The playing fields overlook the sea at Babbacombe. GI may need to pull off a three-card trick for this to proceed. Otherwise it might just be an infuriating timewaster.

Edited July 6, 2016 by MarkLoramTUFCfan

[A ORLOV 8,628]

Altered site plan submitted, I get the impression this is just a change in traffic flow and parking, it does not answer the issue of number of parking spaces.

 

http://pa1.swindon.gov.uk/publicaccess/files/A9119C8EE6F8FC2BF9D96C501E0D0CF5/pdf/S_RES_16_0036-MASTERPLAN_-_ALTERED_SITE-540507.pdf

 

There are also three new letters dated 7 jul on 2nd planning application

 

http://pa1.swindon.gov.uk/publicaccess/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=O7RY9CPTHSC00

 

When planning permission is granted we may see a start over the winter, but not saying which year.

 

The letter from the Fire Brigade mentions this application and that when Planning Permission is granted.

So what happened to the information from J Tomlinson re work starting this week?

Does he actually know what is going on?

Edited July 8, 2016 by A ORLOV

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

SPOKE to Rosco today and he is adamant that the stadium will be ready for 2017. Structure is of a module type so will not take very long to spring into life as it were.

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

SPOKE to Rosco today and he is adamant that the stadium will be ready for 2017. Structure is of a module type so will not take very long to spring into life as it were.

I do hope so. Are Swindon B.C.'s planning department also of a similarly modular/quick to spring to life construction?

Edited July 8, 2016 by rmc

[A ORLOV 8,628]

Now report in the local paper

 

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/14608312.Fire_chiefs_object_to_Abbey_Stadium_plans_over_safety_fears/?ref=mrb&lp=15

SPOKE to Rosco today and he is adamant that the stadium will be ready for 2017. Structure is of a module type so will not take very long to spring into life as it were.

How would he know, is not he is just being fed the same information as everybody else.

The stadium should have been finished ages ago

 

I do hope so. Are Swindon B.C.'s planning department also of a similarly modular/quick to spring to life construction?

Having dealt with our planning dept no they do not spring into life.

Remember they still have issues re the parking numbers.

[auntie doris 2,342]

SPOKE to Rosco today and he is adamant that the stadium will be ready for 2017. Structure is of a module type so will not take very long to spring into life as it were.

Really hope so,can't afford further crowd level reductions. Got our parking sorted, muvverinlaw moving into Abbey house care home in nearby Richardson road,named after Lee.

[JOS50 150]

SPOKE to Rosco today and he is adamant that the stadium will be ready for 2017. Structure is of a module type so will not take very long to spring into life as it were.

Did you ask why he is adamant?

[orion 7,615]

SPOKE to Rosco today and he is adamant that the stadium will be ready for 2017.

the same as 2015 and 2016 then ?