Villa Park Redevelopment

[Brend'Watkins]

THere's nothing supposedly about what Liverpool did. And your last sentence is exactly what Liverpool did. They were buying houses back in the 90s, and as soon as they bought them they put up the metal shutters and left them empty. Houses with nothing wrong with them were deliberately left neglected and empty for well over a decade and as they picked up more and more it had a negative effect on the area.

I'd imagine some of the housing around VP is social housing making it easier to get a sale.  But even at Chris's estimate of £170K for a 3 bed for a private sale you could secure every house affected by the lack of sunlight for around £10 million, not to be sniffed at I know but not something that should frighten off further expansion in time if required.

i didn't know the full facts of what Liverpool did and agree it's very underhand at the very least and evil at worst.  i'm sure it was seen for the greater good it was and if a minority has to suffer then that's a small downside they'd have to live with.

[dave.woodhall]

Why should they have to live with it? It's people's lives you're talking about here.

[Brend'Watkins]

I was referring to the Liverpool property developer team. It was meant to be sarcastic as they didn't care that much clearly.

[Risso]

Why should they have to live with it? It's people's lives you're talking about here.

Because if things like this weren't complicated, then there wouldn't be the need for CPOs. And once a CPO has been put in place successfully, they don't really have any other choice. I'm not saying it's right, it's just the reality of the situation.

[algy]

Why should they have to live with it? It's people's lives you're talking about here.

Agree completely.

There has to be a better option than turfing people out of their homes.  Aston exists for 365 days a year, not just the 20 or so times a year that 40,000 football supporters turn up.

[dave.woodhall]

Why should they have to live with it? It's people's lives you're talking about here.

Agree completely.

There has to be a better option than turfing people out of their homes.  Aston exists for 365 days a year, not just the 20 or so times a year that 40,000 football supporters turn up.

Fortunately the "We were here first" attitude is diminishing, but there is still an element who think turning up for a couple of hours every other week means we should control what happens in the area. I don't think buying up the houses is viable, because there's a lot of them and the ones in Witton Lane were largely derelict anyway.

[PeterWithesShin]

You can't claim to be a community club and then fuck over the community to make a few more quid. IIRC it was something like 70 houses Liverpool bought, or got the council to buy or even a housing company to buy them, and it took them the best part of 20 years and the area nosediving. I'd rather that's not our legacy.

[paul_e]

Why should they have to live with it? It's people's lives you're talking about here.

Agree completely.

There has to be a better option than turfing people out of their homes.  Aston exists for 365 days a year, not just the 20 or so times a year that 40,000 football supporters turn up.

Sometimes there isn't, that exactly why CPOs exist but also why there is a pretty high bar to getting one in place.

I agree on the other point, which is exactly why I believe the club has a responsibility to invest in the area as a 'payment' to the community for the disruption caused on those 20 odd days that the ground is in use (to cover things like the P!nk concert as well as matchdays).

[Rico]

I wonder if it would be cheaper to pay for the road to be lowered so that a new stand could be built over it?

[London Villan]

The other consideration with the Witton Lane stand is the hospitality offer.

At the moment there is hardly any in there, mostly due to lack of space probably. Spending £50m on a new stand will only stack up financially if there is space for hospitality (rather than regular fans) and if there is demand for it (bearing in mind the new North Stand will add around 2000-3000 additional hospitality seat at various price levels).

[olaftab]

I'm only guessing, but I think if you offered most people a decent uplift on the market value of their houses on that road and the chance to move to somewhere a bit nicer, they'd probably take it. The inconvenience they face when Villa are at home must be a right pain in the arse for all the local residents, it means on a Saturday from about 4.45 to at least 6pm, driving anywhere is going to take an hour longer than it usually would at least.

Wash your mouth out, what could be more nicer than living in the shadow of Villa park?
Anyway you are probably right. I know about 3 families who live in Holte road and McGregor close who keep talking about Villa offering em something decent for them to move out. Match days, although not as horrendous as 70s and 80s,  are still a pain in the arse for them.

[olaftab]

Getting back to work start on North stand being delayed due to Station issue, why don't the club carry on full speed ahead  with rebuilt  but actually restrict capacity to current level until station is upgraded?

[London Villan]

Getting back to work start on North stand being delayed due to Station issue, why don't the club carry on full speed ahead  with rebuilt  but actually restrict capacity to current level until station is upgraded?

It's likely the Council won't let them unless the improvements to public transport have been agreed.

[Risso]

Getting back to work start on North stand being delayed due to Station issue, why don't the club carry on full speed ahead  with rebuilt  but actually restrict capacity to current level until station is upgraded?

Presumably they'd quite like the extra income that the bigger stand is supposed to bring in?!

[dicedlam]

Why should they have to live with it? It's people's lives you're talking about here.

Agree completely.

There has to be a better option than turfing people out of their homes.  Aston exists for 365 days a year, not just the 20 or so times a year that 40,000 football supporters turn up.

My thought too.

How can it be morally right to put a CPO in place for an event that happens every other week and never in the summer. We are talking about someone's family home here.