New south / south west stand

Wow! It is going to look like an actual ground. Can't wait.

The objections would have been pretty much the same whether or not Rovers consulted with them. This would have also delayed the project.

Lets also be honest a sizeable proportion of the objections were from people who wouldn't even be affected by it, don't live in the area or were p*ss takes by teds (Tit man).

The application wasn't called in because of the objections it was called in because the green councillor decided to for no other reason than she didn't want it to go ahead and wanted to delay it. In fact I think her calling it in may have happened before any objections were made. 

The club haven't handled the process well and the timescales, even without the planning process, are somewhat questionable given we are still building the stand. So I very much doubt it would have been ready for the start of the season. However that is a separate issue to the green party. the reason for disliking the green party is because they protest, object and delay everything adding lots more costs to projects and a lot of the time results in killing the project. They know what they're doing and as with Sainsbury's they try every trick in the book and play the system. I think it has been said many times before how they behaved over Sainsburys and the way the green councillor has behaved this time is just the same. I wouldn't vote green anyway but this sort of behavior reaffirms my opinion about the greens.

Whilst we haven't covered ourselves in glory here, I doubt whatever the club did it would still elicit objections and the Green Councillor would still have called it in.

Tristan Cork lays out the timeline in his article here: www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/huge-support-bristol-rovers-plan-8677192

South Stand timeline 2023

Jan - Bristol Live report that a huge backlog of planning applications is 'badly impacting Bristol's economy' because of council cuts in the planning department. Many applications are taking months to even be assigned a planning officer, with many taking more than a year to be granted permission.

Feb - Bristol Rovers first submit a planning application to Bristol City Council, but it is sent back.

April - Rovers' submit application and is accepted by council planners.

June 29 - Bristol City Council planners register the application to remove two temporary stands and build one new permanent one & publish designs and plans on the council's website.

Early July - Comments begin to arrive at City Hall from residents, mostly in support.

Mid July - Council planners send out the neighbourhood notification list on July 6, prompting almost 200 letters of objection, many from residents complaining that Rovers have already begun work to remove the stands.

Late July - Work on the project is stopped after the two temporary stands are removed, leaving an empty end.

July 27 - Cllr Emma Edwards formally calls in the planning application to be decided by committee.

July 28 - Bristol Live and BBC report Bristol Rovers have started work without planning permission, and some local residents have objected.

August 3 - Bristol Live reports around 350 people have written in to support the South Stand plan.

August 12 - Rovers play first home game with no fans in the south end of the ground.

August 12 - Labour attack Cllr Edwards for calling in the application.

Lets try and stick to the facts and not vilify a woman for doing her job representing her constituents. They objected on mass and she called the application in. A councillor of any other stripes would have done the same.

A councillor of any other stripe wouldn't. The greens have history and it's only them making these issues. When has any other party done this? Example? In fact I member the tory MP(?) being fully vocal and supportive of our move to the UWE and Sainsburys.

She's not representing her constituents. A handful of local residents are against the stand, how many are supportive? Is she not representing them?

Don't get me wrong I think all main parties aren't worth voting for as they all seem to be self serving, power hungry and liars but the greens are out on there own when it comes to things like this. They have form and history. A party of protest that has never had to run anything

Yes the planning process approvals is slow and poor, Yes rovers could have done things better, yes other parties will try to make political point scoring out of it but that still doesn't excuse the way the Greens behave. And it is unique to the greens.

Anyway back to the actual south stand discussion. Don't get me wrong I am massively appreciative of finally getting a decent stand and making the Mem more like a football stadium. However looking at the latest picture I do think it is a shame they didn't make the roof height of the SW stand the same as that of the new south stand and the main stand. It would have made that end look more complete and enclosed the ground more. I guess it's all about the money.

I've been as frustrated as anyone since first watching Rovers at Twerton in the early 90s at the state of facilities we have compared to small towns up north. I lived next to Valley Parade when it was being developed and used to go to many away games at places like Wigan, Huddersfield and er.. Darlington! It's easy to be angry about the situation but there are multiple factors why we are so far behind many which are nothing to do with noisy neighbours or green politics. And it's not as rosy elsewhere (see Dalington) as you might think.  

Check the 'positive' example of Liverpool for example: 

www.theguardian.com/football/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2013/may/06/anfield-liverpool-david-conn

Anyway I believe Edwards when she says she is supportive of the stand being built and see nothing unusual about her behaviour if you look at the process and timeline without prejudice.  Many people are projecting a sinister motives and assume she's lying and I don't think any minds are going to change on this. So circles and all that.  


Meanwhile I saw the stand the other day and it really enclosed the ground which is the main thing the ground lacks. Looking forward to seeing it filled with people asap.    

The other interesting thing is that railing that is going around the top of the south stand roof. Flood lights maybe?

Thats temporary scaffollding to prevent workers fixing the roof sheets from falling off the edge