Villa Park Redevelopment

[DB]

Last few years have seen a huge uplift in quality and change of ambition of clubs when it comes to either a re-vamp or building a new stadium. As others have mentioned, there is only so much you can do at VP before asking is it worth it or do we just start again.  The DE is awful and Trinity looks good on TV, but up close you can see how poor quality it is. Look at Betis, RM…dare I say Spuds, we should be aiming for that level of quality.

[Risso]

Do you mean east of Moor Street? If so it would be a logistical nightmare for traffic and I doubt if anyone is going to sell land so close to HS2.

Surely though anywhere so near to the city centre will be difficult for traffic (as the city centre itself already is) but the point would be few people would drive.

I'd never drive if our ground was nearer the centre. I almost always drive now because the public transport is so piss poor.

Exactly that. Look at Newcastle, very few people drive there I expect, because it's ten minutes walk from the city centre, nobody bothers. Their city centre gets the benefit of 50,000 fans before and after the match every game, I bet that makes a huge difference to the local economy.

[LeeB]

Do you mean east of Moor Street? If so it would be a logistical nightmare for traffic and I doubt if anyone is going to sell land so close to HS2.

Surely though anywhere so near to the city centre will be difficult for traffic (as the city centre itself already is) but the point would be few people would drive.

I'd never drive if our ground was nearer the centre. I almost always drive now because the public transport is so piss poor.

Exactly that. Look at Newcastle, very few people drive there I expect, because it's ten minutes walk from the city centre, nobody bothers. Their city centre gets the benefit of 50,000 fans before and after the match every game, I bet that makes a huge difference to the local economy.

With respect to the two residents of Leamington and Leicestershire, getting in and out of Brum on an ordinary weekend is already a massive pain in the arse from the relatively close suburb in which I live, the thought of attempting in with 60,000 others at the same time is not appealing.

The only site I can think of that could give us more space and still fit the remit of being in our own area would be the Alex, and that's useless for trains, so the A34 would turn into a huge car park.

[LeeB]

It begs the question really that rather than the site we currently occupy being the problem, is it more that Brum itself is not equipped to deal with a big fuck off crowd thanks to the poor infrastructure?

[algy]

It begs the question really that rather than the site we currently occupy being the problem, is it more that Brum itself is not equipped to deal with a big fuck off crowd thanks to the poor infrastructure?

I think this is it.  As has been said before, Villa Park is right next to a massive motorway and 2 separate railway stations.  There aren't going to be that many locations with better transport links, and even fewer that are actually obtainable.

[Ads]

Coming down the M6 and onto the A38, the queue for traffic off the roundabout heading into town is consistently diabolical.

[London Villan]

The city centre (or walking distance to it) would be fine. But even at the stretch of the imagination, the only viable site would be Smithfield.

If you were to pick a location, I think somewhere around Summer Lane/Great Hampton St would be just about acceptable - but it's never going to happen.


The city can cope with thousands of people travelling in each morning on a work day, more than attending any stadium event, but obviously, public transport frequencies would have to adapt to a new stadium.

[pauliewalnuts]

Smithfield is a no go, already a master plan for the entire plot.

[The Edge]

It begs the question really that rather than the site we currently occupy being the problem, is it more that Brum itself is not equipped to deal with a big fuck off crowd thanks to the poor infrastructure?

100%. Lack of funding for transport in Britain's second city  is totally the problem. Governments of all colours have had a blind spot regarding Birmingham/West Midlands since WW2. London gets everything it needs. Manchester has had vast amounts spent on it's metro as has the North East, Sheffield and Nottingham. Places the world over with similar populations can build huge stadia with brilliant transport links while Birmingham grinds to a halt for a Bruce Springsteen concert. Its a national disgrace but the nation doesn't give a flying fuck. It's only Birmingham. Leeds is another big city that has been continually overlooked by central government.

[London Villan]

Smithfield is a no go, already a master plan for the entire plot.

Agreed - more shops and offices.... Not sure it's what the city needs more of.

[The Edge]

Smithfield is a no go, already a master plan for the entire plot.

Agreed - more shops and offices.... Not sure it's what the city needs more of.

It would be hilarious if we gazumped the developers and built a huge new stadium right in the heart of the territory where "we're not allowed"

[Sexual Ealing]

Smithfield is a no go, already a master plan for the entire plot.

Agreed - more shops and offices.... Not sure it's what the city needs more of.

That's insane. It won't be long before shops and offices are things of the past.

[Pat Mustard]

Smithfield and Digbeth are already extensively master-planned and loads of work is happening already - extending the core of the city centre with new housing as well as amenities has been the plan for years.  Building a massive stadium right in the middle of this area would be disastrous for the city, and would kill the regeneration stone dead.

As others have said, the lack of investment in public transport in Birmingham is symptomatic of the attitudes of governments of all stripes over the last 50 years that anything outside of London/SE and the North West doesn't exist.  There isn't another city in Europe the size of Birmingham without a full city-wide light rail/metro system.  The location of Villa Park isn't the problem, the transport infrastructure is.  The real piss-boiler is that it wouldn't cost huge amounts to put right - about 1/50th of what was spent on Crossrail would have a massive impact.

[pauliewalnuts]

The location of Villa Park isn't the problem, the transport infrastructure is.

The question becomes which is easiest, fix the transport infrastructure or move the ground (given the accompanying problem of being unable to expand the ground beyond 50k, or to expand the commercial facilities on one side because of the lack of space).

[LeeB]

The location of Villa Park isn't the problem, the transport infrastructure is.

The question becomes which is easiest, fix the transport infrastructure or move the ground (given the accompanying problem of being unable to expand the ground beyond 50k, or to expand the commercial facilities on one side because of the lack of space).

But as has been pointed out, moving the ground is still not going to fix the problem.
We'll have a bigger ground yes, but getting to or from it will be a nightmare at any proposed site.