Villa Park Redevelopment

[VILLA MOLE]

What about offering the Royal Mail an incentive to swap from their distribution centre on the A34?

Would it be a big enough plot ?

[paul_e]

For a 60k stadium with full modern facilities you need a site that is at least 200-250m ad preferably a bit bigger. You'd then want another area of about half that size (but with no major shape restrictions) to add a shop, transport hub, parking, etc. Finding a plot big enough in or near the city centre would be very difficult. As I've said before the Nechells Gas towers are about the best option without having to buy a huge amount of property, remove roads, etc.

For comparison the current site is about 120m at the back of the Holte and 160m at the back of the North, that why we have to be creative with what we do there.

[kippaxvilla2]

Heck has only just arrived and already we have “move the franchise “.

Yes there isn't enough of a Premier League presence in Cornwall.

[pauliewalnuts]

I am not too sure how much better access would be at the gas towers site, anyway. It's closer to the city centre, yes, but is that alone enough to make the difference?

[Brazilian Villain]

Heck has only just arrived and already we have “move the franchise “.

Yes there isn't enough of a Premier League presence in Cornwall.

Given their county flag, Newcastle might be a better fit.

[paul_e]

I am not too sure how much better access would be at the gas towers site, anyway. It's closer to the city centre, yes, but is that alone enough to make the difference?

it's within walkign distance of the city centre (well would be with a few minor improvements) and therefore pretty close to HS2. Could also be easily connected to the expressway for cars and buses. Without the massive expense of taking somewhere like Martineau galleries I don't think there'd be many better options. More importantly if you were starting from scratch and wanting to build a world class stadium that's a site that would work, the current ground isn't.

[Monty]

Building a new stadium from scratch without local government help is a proven albatross and wouldn't come close to being worth it IMO.

[paul_e]

Building a new stadium from scratch without local government help is a proven albatross and wouldn't come close to being worth it IMO.

Which is why I suspect it's not a realistic option. Even improving our stadium is proving difficult because of local government problems.

[chrisw1]

Yep.  We're going to upgrade the North and that's it for the time being.  There was talk of safe standing increasing capacity, but unfortunately, it doesn't under current regulations - it's 1:1.  So I'm not sure where we go from there other than starting to buy the houses behind the Witton as and when they come on the market.

If we really want to squeeze the capacity we should just bite the bullet and build a horse shoe, filling in the North corners, but we're beyond that now I think.

[olaftab]

Moving to Shirley would be handy for me

Shirley not?

[olaftab]

What about offering the Royal Mail an incentive to swap from their distribution centre on the A34?

Great post!

Delivered with aplomb!

I am afraid I can't give that my stamp of approval.

[Drummond]

What about offering the Royal Mail an incentive to swap from their distribution centre on the A34?

Would it be a big enough plot ?

I think it could be, doing a quick measurement using my fingers...

[Percy McCarthy]

When you get down to brass tacks, it’s a fully-funded attraction, ready, willing and able to invest hundreds of millions into a deprived inner-city area. WMCA and the council should be bending over backwards to facilitate it.

[eamonn]

Could Villa Live host gigs like the Villa Leisure Centre used to, and do conferences for businesses during the day with a tour of VP thrown-in to sweeten the experience?

[PeterWithe]

I'm led to believe that the Conference and Exhibition venue at the Ricoh does well so I'd guess so being so near to the motorway and train network?