New Stadium

Someone posted the drawings of what the next stage would have been under Richmond and the Midland Road stand could become a double decker but it would have to be built over Midland Road.

 

How many odsal meetings have the club had?, ambitious plans, financially good , rugby speedway and footy

 

Not interested.. neither are the club, landfill will bring millions in to council coffers.

 

Like we have now most of the time?.

 

It is a solution I must admit. However it does seem a little harsh on the residents.

 

It is a solution I must admit. However it does seem a little harsh on the residents.

I thinks it's the White Witch Bronco.

 

There were plans drawn up in the 80s for a two tiered stand on midland road.

 

We don't have a great stadium. The big problem for our ground is the fact that it's ludicrously lobsided. The only way to solve this is if the council give permission to close South Parade and enable us to expand the main stand sideways, incorporating new changing rooms. Then the problem of the Bradford end could only be solved by closing Holywell Ash Lane and demolishing a fair few of the terraced houses behind and building a new stand. Then we would have a great stadium with potential to increase the Midland Road stand too. Could that ever happen? Who knows, but I suspect it's unlikely to happen any time soon. The alternative is a brand new stadium, but where? And where would the money come from? Given that the world is likely to enter difficult financial times, possibly for a long time, I suspect not much will happen in my remaining years. But in other places it has, when the necessary backing has been found.

 

I love Valley Parade but I'm open to moving to a brand new stadium if it would benefit the club.

Aside from the lack of parking and the economic deprivation of the local area, I think there are other long term problems with Valley Parade in terms of it's location. It's a hot button topic and I don't mean to offend anybody. But to put it simply, if we can attract thousands of local Asian supporters who will regularly attend our matches then the location problem goes away. If we can't and the fanbase continues to be predominantly white, then our fans need to be able to walk to the stadium or park their cars there in large numbers. Over time that will become increasingly difficult as the demographics change and people move away from the area. It's not a massive problem now but in 20-30 years it could be.

 

The vast majority of the (mostly white) fanbase already live miles from Valley Parade and either drive in or travel by bus or train for City matches.
In what way is that likely to change to become more of a problem in the next 20-30 years?

 

A lot of people still walk to Valley Parade, most don't live in the immediate vicinity but they walk in from surrounding districts, I wouldn't count on those people still living in the same place in twenty years. The trend is for people to either move towards the outskirts or leave Bradford entirely. A larger proportion of the fanbase are going to live further and further away from the stadium, Valley Parade doesn't have the facilities to cope with that.

 

I don’t know about that suggestion that a large proportion walk in from surrounding areas because they live there.

IMO they walk in because they’ve parked elsewhere, because already they don’t live in Manningham.

Others walk from the two train stations because, again, they already live outside of the centre and are commuting in.

 

All correct, and the only feasible way if we do want to expand. The complete demolition of Lupton St and Cornwall Terrace behind , along with the removal of the playground on what was the lower side of Lupton is the only way. Holywell Ash Lane would be superseded by Cornwall Rd, as both run parallel down to Midland Rd. Nothing is impossible. There are two determining factors . The expense of compulsory purchasing these houses and subsequent relocation of residents, however the main consideration…….is it all required? That’s the £10-20 million question?

 

Makes sense if youre developing Anfield or the like where you'll be able to not only recoup your.investment but actually make a profit. That ain't gonna happen with the prohibited costs of any future development at Valley Parade, unless it was specifically aimed at corporate facilities. And even then it would take a generation just to break even.
The size of our stadium will suffice for our needs for the next 20 years

 

I have to agree RT. It’s probably 30% of the cost of a completely new venue for just one side of the existing facility.

 

You and Dubois are quite right but as usual it comes to cost and practicality AND the Local Authority. Some have mentioned decking Midland Road stand and a scheme to build over the road. When the current stand was built some Councillors on the Planning Committee said they hadn't realised the stand would overhang the road and if the Club ever came back for ANY further extensions they would refuse. If that view still exists today, who knows.
Second, as far as I know, the Midland Road stand is a very economic construction and if, if it were consented for a double deck my gut feeling is the existing would have to be demolished as it wouldn't take the load of another deck.
Third, Midland Road itself is likely to become a more important route into the City centre if Hinchcliffe and England's published plan to convert Manningham Lane into a bus and cycle route only (plus quad bike racing of course) comes to some nutty conclusion as part of their apparent quest to kill the city all together.
You and others are right that years back the purchase of properties backing Holywell Ash should have been done but the costs now plus relocating the nicely rebuilt Community Centre will be excessive.
Finally I thought Ryan had stated publically we are not moving from VP.

 

Richmond tried to buy the houses behind the Bradford end and magically them houses double in price

 

It's a cold shit place and windy as buggery.

After going from Yeadon for home games including night matches after the fire I honestly can't think of a worse location.

Valley Parade is our home, end of.

 

no time for the Bulls yet again they are after hand outs ............ they in the early 2000s should have done something about Odsal but they didn’t they blew it elsewhere
Imagine getting paid to play at Valley parade while Odsal was being redeveloped????
Imagine then getting handed Odsal back with millions thrown into the situation and where did all that money go ???
Seriously I’ve no time for them they leeched of the council for decades while the same council sat back and did nothing for us after the Richmond era

 

I believe they blew it all on players wages to try and keep up with benefactor supported Super League teams that it turned out were overspending and thus breaking the fair play rules in any case . All for Sky money!