General New Stadium Plans - Stratfield Brake

[Banbury2018]

I think certain posts/arguments on this thread need to be be moved to a special thread for OAP’s( children ) to carry on as it’s clogging up an already busy thread.

 

[ljs]

So, you get your information from someone at the club.

Mine is first hand, from being involved..

I know it's very early days, but seeing as there is already some kind of footprint plan, and as you have been involved, have you seen, or know if they have been produced, any artist images of the proposed stadium?

 

[Marked Ox]

There can also be some self imposed delay. I know Everton did some extensive public consultation all over Merseyside to be sure they got it right. Took a lot of time.

Best not compare ourselves with them though - project is bigger, more complex and (presumably) involved a lot more palm-greasing.

As an aside, hasn't the City of Liverpool lost their World Heritage Status due in big part to Everton's new stadium and other development along the docks?

 

[Fanatica]

Thankyou for this. Very informative.

Brentford’s ground (and also in years gone by , the Emirates) were both developed in very built up areas. Does the fact that our site is being developed in relative, splendid isolation mean that the consultation, planning and construction process can be concertinad somewhat ?

I honestly couldn't say as it's on a case by case, and indeed council by council basis (and I never really looked into it at the time). You will be sick to death of the term Local Development Plan when listening in to meetings over the coming months. Brentford's new ground was built on a piece of land that had nothing going for it and also committed to building 11 tower blocks over 10 years which accounts for about 900 flats. In London that's ridiculous.

If anyone is interested you can find the whole planning report for Brentford here. It's very long. http://www.hwa.uk.com/site/wp-conte...-8-BRENTFORD-FC-PLANNING-COMMITTEE-REPORT.pdf

 

[SwissYellow]

I honestly couldn't say as it's on a case by case, and indeed council by council basis (and I never really looked into it at the time). You will be sick to death of the term Local Development Plan when listening in to meetings over the coming months. Brentford's new ground was built on a piece of land that had nothing going for it and also committed to building 11 tower blocks over 10 years which accounts for about 900 flats. In London that's ridiculous.

If anyone is interested you can find the whole planning report for Brentford here. It's very long. http://www.hwa.uk.com/site/wp-conte...-8-BRENTFORD-FC-PLANNING-COMMITTEE-REPORT.pdf

I used to work overlooking the Brentford stadium, it was literally a scrap yard. How they managed to fit their new ground, houses and add ons into that space is a bloody wonder.

 

[MJB]

I hope I've not come over as too optimistic, it's going to be one hell of a rollercoaster!!

Not at all. It’s an area I’m involved in too, and that all looks very well informed, reasoned and articulated [emoji1303]

 

[Marked Ox]

Lots already covered on the forum - To summarize what a lot of people have taken off me Tweets.

• Stadium move, should be fantastic but isnt enough to get approval.
• The Kassam was built on "polluted land" which wasn't able to take housing
• Now the Kassam has been there 20 years, its now no longer "polluted" and can have housing
• The Kassam will go and be replaced by housing. This will fix quotas that both Vale of White Horse and Oxford City need to fill. Kassam will get a little richer.
• Stratfield Brake can't have housing on it due to a variety of covenants
• Oxford City Council are desperate to redevelop the Ice Rink area of Oxpens and get rid of the rink. its costly, old, too small and has a LOT of very passionate users.
• Moving the rink to the same site, brings in a lot of transport, energy and infrastructure needs
• Oxfordshire needs an indoor arena of size.
• The University needs a conference center and arena of size
• Oxford City Stars have never played higher than 2nd tier because of budget restrictions, increased capacity will enable new investors and potential growth
• One of Oxford Universities Ice Hockey team alumni are billionaires, they could be tempted to get stuck in..
• US Varsity matches have started to be played outside the US https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2021/12/04_Belfast-Tournament-Scheduled.php Oxford would be a very attractive host city....
• Offering the Uni use of the Stadium and arena for Varsity matches would be very helpful.
• I think we'll see new exit/entrance to complex from A34
• New train services will service complex from wider, potentially Milton Keynes, Buckingham and Witney* rumour.

Having Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire Council, Vale of WH, Cherwell AND the University onboard is HUGE. Transport links huge. Environmental potential huge.

The negatives will be:

• Local residents who dont want noise, traffic and hooligans.
• CPRE (Campaign for rural England -Oxfordshire)
• Any local landowner who sees a quick buck, loss of land value

its FANTASTIC to finally see this public and hats off to everyone involved.

Thank you for that, interesting hearing it from the Ice Hockey side of things.

As an aside, the local CPRE is a given considering they'll complain if somebody in Oxford puts up a shed.

 

[bashamwonderland]

As an aside, hasn't the City of Liverpool lost their World Heritage Status due in big part to Everton's new stadium and other development along the docks?

That's right - not a surprise to club and Council and broadly the public feeling seems to be that development trumps WH status. The stadium won't actually be an imposing feature on the Mersey bank from the traditional viewpoints of Liverpool as it sits a bit further out West - conservationists should be more concerned about the identikit skyscrapers being thrown up elsewhere really - same as in Manchester and a few other similar cities where a brown envelope goes a long way.

 

[OxVox]

With the stadium situation progressing over recent days, there’s no better time to join OxVox, wonder why?
•ONLY independent supporters trust of #oufc
•Set up & run by fans, to protect the long term future of OUR club
•Well established links with County & City Councils
•Extensive committee experience & knowledge of local planning
•Committee Experience of working in stadia consultancy
•c.1,000 existing members who, when added to, can come together to create one voice

Join OxVox | OxVox

#oufc

 

[Colin B]

I know it's very early days, but seeing as there is already some kind of footprint plan, and as you have been involved, have you seen, or know if they have been produced, any artist images of the proposed stadium?

Yes, they were produced a while ago, but don't get too excited, as they were only schematic and not representative of the final stadium design, as that hasn't been done yet, and won't be for a while. They were illustrative of what could be done, not just for the stadium, but the whole site, based on our requirements. Sorry to be a tease, but they were VERY impressive though!

 

[NC2U]

Clearly have already by the plans. I would think a planning application would go in by the autumn to allow time to rectify if any issues come up. Looking at that plan that's over 2 years building unless we're working round the clock.

That’s easily a two year build with everything else attached to it and tbh I would say that timeframe is very tight

 

[holdsteady]

Actually, your dismissal of exile fans raises an interesting question - how many regular fans travel from outside of the immediate Oxford area? There are a lot fans on this forum based some 20+ miles away who attend home games. The forum itself is not a great indicator, as there are a limited number of users and the nature of it means a lot of exiles participate but it would be interesting data to see. I'm part of a group of between 6 and 10 (depending on the game and timing) who largely come from London and Cheltenham.

I am one myself, you can’t take this forum as much of a barometer for where our support comes from as if you move away this place becomes more attractive, not like you bump into Oxford fans all the time once you are out of the county.

There is no big rise in attendances coming from exiles though, they are an ageing demographic with no real room for growth, the club won’t get thousands of extra fans from outside if the county.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

A question for those who know about planning.

As the timescale in the proposal is as below, what would be a reasonable time frame from planning being submitted, to actually being approved on a project of this size, so that construction could begin?

May 2022: legal and preplanning due diligence concluded.

May 2023: planning application submitted.

May 2026: construction of the new Stadium to be completed.

It does appear to be cutting it fine. I think we need to manage our expectations that everything planned on the plan we saw yesterday will be absolutely complete for the start of the 26/27 season.

The stadium will probably be completed enough to receive the necessary safety certificates and for us to play there but it I don't think it'll absolutely finished. There will be finishing touches made for a while after the stadium has opened.

I think the other buildings won't be completed for a couple of years after the stadium has opened.

It may also be the case the first few games of the 26/27 season are played away.

 

[MJB]

It does appear to be cutting it fine. I think we need to manage our expectations that everything planned on the plan we saw yesterday will be absolutely complete for the start of the 26/27 season.

The stadium will probably be completed enough to receive the necessary safety certificates and for us to play there but it I don't think it'll absolutely finished. There will be finishing touches made for a while after the stadium has opened.

I think the other buildings won't be completed for a couple of years after the stadium has opened.

It may also be the case the first few games of the 26/27 season are played away.

Or at the Kassam potentially. All the more reason for fans to reign it in a bit in their public comments about key players.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

I'm going for 44,000....based on a solid page an hour over the next 5 years

Gonna have to up my estimate a bit...5 pages in the last 2 and a half hours

 

[Big Ron]

I am one myself, you can’t take this forum as much of a barometer for where our support comes from as if you move away this place becomes more attractive, not like you bump into Oxford fans all the time once you are out of the county.

There is no big rise in attendances coming from exiles though, they are an ageing demographic with no real room for growth, the club won’t get thousands of extra fans from outside if the county.

I'm pretty sure that I pointed out that I wasn't using the forum as a barometer for the exact reason you mentioned and nowhere did I claim thousands of exiled fans!

So, you know for sure that the exiled fan base is an aging demographic with no room for growth? Surely, people regularly leave the Oxford area and remain fans, to varying degrees and some exiles have children that also become fans.

 

[OX14]

Lots already covered on the forum - To summarize what a lot of people have taken off me Tweets.

• Stadium move, should be fantastic but isnt enough to get approval.
• The Kassam was built on "polluted land" which wasn't able to take housing
• Now the Kassam has been there 20 years, its now no longer "polluted" and can have housing
• The Kassam will go and be replaced by housing. This will fix quotas that both Vale of White Horse and Oxford City need to fill. Kassam will get a little richer.
• Stratfield Brake can't have housing on it due to a variety of covenants
• Oxford City Council are desperate to redevelop the Ice Rink area of Oxpens and get rid of the rink. its costly, old, too small and has a LOT of very passionate users.
• Moving the rink to the same site, brings in a lot of transport, energy and infrastructure needs
• Oxfordshire needs an indoor arena of size.
• The University needs a conference center and arena of size
• Oxford City Stars have never played higher than 2nd tier because of budget restrictions, increased capacity will enable new investors and potential growth
• One of Oxford Universities Ice Hockey team alumni are billionaires, they could be tempted to get stuck in..
• US Varsity matches have started to be played outside the US https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2021/12/04_Belfast-Tournament-Scheduled.php Oxford would be a very attractive host city....
• Offering the Uni use of the Stadium and arena for Varsity matches would be very helpful.
• I think we'll see new exit/entrance to complex from A34
• New train services will service complex from wider, potentially Milton Keynes, Buckingham and Witney* rumour.

Having Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire Council, Vale of WH, Cherwell AND the University onboard is HUGE. Transport links huge. Environmental potential huge.

The negatives will be:

• Local residents who dont want noise, traffic and hooligans.
• CPRE (Campaign for rural England -Oxfordshire)
• Any local landowner who sees a quick buck, loss of land value

its FANTASTIC to finally see this public and hats off to everyone involved.

Do you mean SOHA instead of the Vale? Land near the kassam is under soha and Vales area is only Kennington, botley, South Hinksey and Cumnor when it comes to land around Oxford.

 

[bashamwonderland]

I am one myself, you can’t take this forum as much of a barometer for where our support comes from as if you move away this place becomes more attractive, not like you bump into Oxford fans all the time once you are out of the county.

There is no big rise in attendances coming from exiles though, they are an ageing demographic with no real room for growth, the club won’t get thousands of extra fans from outside if the county.

I'm a "young" exile who will probs increase my home attendance from 2/3 home games per year to about 10/15 - more if we're making moves in the Championship.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

We also haven't seen detailed plans yet. It could be the case that there's one complex stand with retail, offices, hospitality etc and the rest (hopefully 3 others) are pretty basic with nothing other than seats, kiosks and toilets which would be much quicker to build.

I'm not expecting The New Manor to have an Allianz Arena style colour changing LED exterior either!

 

[holdsteady]

I'm pretty sure that I pointed out that I wasn't using the forum as a barometer for the exact reason you mentioned and nowhere did I claim thousands of exiled fans!

So, you know for sure that the exiled fan base is an aging demographic with no room for growth? Surely, people regularly leave the Oxford area and remain fans, to varying degrees and some exiles have children that also become fans.

Well where are you more likely to increase your fan base from? Oxfordshire or elsewhere?