Villa Park Redevelopment

[Percy McCarthy]

I know that it’s rumoured that small heath might go there, but the Birmingham Wheels site is absolutely huge. Don’t suppose the transport links are any better. In fact, they’re probably worse.

Without wishing to repeat Liverpool’s reprehensible behaviour towards local residents, I still think the easiest win is to find a satisfactory rehousing of the people on the Witton Lane side of the ground and either moving or building over the road. That would allow four sides to be redeveloped without affecting any housing.

[Gareth]

I know that it’s rumoured that small heath might go there, but the Birmingham Wheels site is absolutely huge. Don’t suppose the transport links are any better. In fact, they’re probably worse.

Without wishing to repeat Liverpool’s reprehensible behaviour towards local residents, I still think the easiest win is to find a satisfactory rehousing of the people on the Witton Lane side of the ground and either moving or building over the road. That would allow four sides to be redeveloped without affecting any housing.

Or some of the land on Aston Hall, they could afford to lose a hundred yards or so of land surely :-)

[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).

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.

Only if you accept that there is no potential location for the ground which is less of a nightmare to get to, and also if you don't accept that somewhere more central would reduce the numbers trying to get there by car.

I don't see how if Arsenal could manage to find another plot for the Emirates so near to Highbury in somewhere as dense as North London, we couldn't possibly find somewhere in Birmingham.

And I know they didn't necessarily end up with a ground with much better transport connections, or even if that was their major requirement, but they found somewhere to build.

I am not saying we should do the above, btw, but I bet the likes of Chris Heck will have put it on the table as an option

[Percy McCarthy]

I know that it’s rumoured that small heath might go there, but the Birmingham Wheels site is absolutely huge. Don’t suppose the transport links are any better. In fact, they’re probably worse.

Without wishing to repeat Liverpool’s reprehensible behaviour towards local residents, I still think the easiest win is to find a satisfactory rehousing of the people on the Witton Lane side of the ground and either moving or building over the road. That would allow four sides to be redeveloped without affecting any housing.

Or some of the land on Aston Hall, they could afford to lose a hundred yards or so of land surely :-)

That too. You’d think they’d be up for selling it. We have 571 parks.

[chrisw1]

You would also think we ought to be able to nick a small slice of the park to sort the Holte / Trinity corner.  It's mostly unused park space given the slope - replant a line of trees and you could take 15-20m without any real loss of amenity.  Appreciate moving the road is expensive - but something for the future if needed.

[LeeB]

I know that it’s rumoured that small heath might go there, but the Birmingham Wheels site is absolutely huge. Don’t suppose the transport links are any better. In fact, they’re probably worse.

Without wishing to repeat Liverpool’s reprehensible behaviour towards local residents, I still think the easiest win is to find a satisfactory rehousing of the people on the Witton Lane side of the ground and either moving or building over the road. That would allow four sides to be redeveloped without affecting any housing.

Or some of the land on Aston Hall, they could afford to lose a hundred yards or so of land surely :-)

Nobody has lived on that house for years, may as well knock that down and build it there. Then we can just move in when it's done, won't even need Pickfords.

Tarmac the park for a car park, build a megastore/boxpark/casino on the site of the existing ground, wallop, how about that for increasing commercial income?

[Risso]

The transport links for Arsenal are great, probably the easiest London ground to get to/away from. Islington is a really good area to spend time in beforehand as well.

[dave.woodhall]

The transport links for Arsenal are great, probably the easiest London ground to get to/away from. Islington is a really good area to spend time in beforehand as well.

They've also got a massive pre-match area whereas we've got half a dozen indifferent pubs/clubs and Up Town. 

[trinityoap]

I've become resigned to spending an hour getting back into the city centre whatever means of transport I use.

[UK Redsox]

How about knocking down the ‘One Stop’?

[AlexAlexCropley]

How about knocking down the ‘One Stop’?

Now this i can get on board with.Nearer our starting roots too.

[Duncan Shaw]

How about knocking down the ‘One Stop’?

Now this i can get on board with.Nearer our starting roots too.

Same rubbish train line though?

[pauliewalnuts]

How about knocking down the ‘One Stop’?

Now this i can get on board with.Nearer our starting roots too.

Same rubbish train line though?

How about just knocking down the One Stop, nothing to do with moving the ground there?

[algy]

How about knocking down the ‘One Stop’?

Now this i can get on board with.Nearer our starting roots too.

Same rubbish train line though?

And you lose easy access to the cross city line at Aston.

Personally think you ain't going to solve the transport problems in Birmingham unless you move out of Birmingham, and I don't see that as a viable option.

The one exception might be to move closer to the city centre, but tbh if our maximum capacity is 40k-50k then so be it. Chelsea have managed to consistently qualify for the Champions League with a smaller.ground than ours, I'm not sure we actually *need* a 60k+ capacity stadium (as nice as it'd be to have one)

[eamonn]

True re Chelsea but I wonder how much they make per supporter in the ground based on ticket price, food and commercials....a lot more per customer than we do, anyway.