Luton Town Relocation Plans

[Kenneth E End]

Read earlier there was talk about a name change - to Luton Football Club.

Not a fan of it.

 

[Kenneth E End]

I've copied and pasted this from another forum:

I’m not sure where to start from in terms of last night’s presentation, but I can say first up that it was absolutely superb and I would (again) encourage you all to get down there to the open sessions starting this weekend and engage with the proposals.

Right, I didn’t make any notes so this is all off the top of my head.

1. GS and the architect Manuel did the presentation between them. GS explained the structure of the companies that are involved, so 2020 at the top, in which the Trust has a minority stake. 2020 then owns 100% the Football Club and 100% 2020 Developments, which is the SPV set up to carry out the developments at Power Court and Newlands Park.

2. The next part of the presentation was around the process, which will involve initially (as has already been stated by the club) an outline Planning Application (500 pages long!) for the two sites being submitted next month. A reasonable timeframe for consideration of this by Luton BC was thought to be about 6 months, so all being well a decision would hopefully be forthcoming by the end of the year.

3. There was a list of consultants/advisors as long as your arm, with apparently 72 people (excluding those from LTFC) working on the Schemes. The investors will have spent significant sums in getting the proposals to this stage that’s for sure, KPMG don’t come cheap…

4. To Power Court itself, the plan is to re-route the River Lea so that it comes above ground and it will flow between Power Court and the Church. There had clearly been a lot of consideration given to the Church (apparently the only Grade 1 listed building in Luton), and the dual carriageway that is there now would become single carriageway, with the River Lea moved there as well thereby forming a natural barrier between the two. It was clear that they don’t want the Stadium to overshadow the Church so (a) the Stadium is sunk down somewhat from the surrounding ground level and (b) the lower side stand will be the one that the church looks onto.

5. The site will have a Music venue, cinema, supermarket, 10 to 12 bars/restaurants and about 500 flats on it. Hopefully people would stay in the area after a game to have a drink or whatever. There will be some underground parking for the Stadium, but there won’t be loads and loads of parking - there will be “more than there is a KR” but I sense not much more; people will be encouraged to use public transport, and there was talk of various park and ride Schemes that could be possibilities, including using car parks at some of the stations on the Bedpan line.

6. In terms of capacity the Outline planning will be for 22,500, but the initial design and construction will be for 17,500. It appears to be scalable to be capable of holding more than 22,500 but GS wouldn’t be drawn on a precise figure.

7. The Stadium will be clearly of 4 stands, but with the corners filled in with seats at a 45° angle to the stands themselves. It won’t be a bowl (hoorah!) and looks fantastic. The roofs at the ends will be quite low. The standout feature was the “Halo” of floodlighting that sits almost above the pitch and held in place from the two side stands; the lights are reflected more directly downwards than is the case with traditional floodlights or those inserted in the roofs of modern grounds which project at quite an angle. It would utilise LED lighting and could be left on at night time at really low power as a feature than could be seen from a distance.

8. Later on a hotel could be built as an integral part of the Main Stand.

9. In respect of the Newlands development, it was clear that they didn’t want it to be another off the side of a motorway load of sheds (warehouses) and saw it as a great gateway to the town that needed to look really eye-catching. So it will have 480,000 sq ft of Office space (for about 4,000 people) – this being at the Motorway side of the development, a Cinema (have to say I’m not sure that Luton needs two more cinemas), Leisure facilities, and about 20 or so retail units. GS said that there wasn’t another retail park like it in the country, so it won’t be a Bicester (good - hideous place), but I got the impression that it would be up-market.

10. I have to say that the architects drawings of Newlands made it look a bit like Tellytubbyland as there were grass roofs over the retail part of the Scheme and people could walk from one side (the Offices area) to the other (the Leisure/Cinema bit) over the roofs, but overall it looked terrific.

11. So there has been some trade-off between what is in the Local Plan for the two sites, so for example PC was envisaged to have more retail but this has moved to Newlands.

12. GS was clear that there is no Plan B, this is it, develop Newlands Park at J10 and use the profits from that to fund Power Court.

13. GS sees this as a massive game-changer for the Town – “Boom Town” as he put it.

14. I’m sure there’s loads that I’ve missed but others can add other things as well over the next week or so.

I would so love a quick trip in a Tardis hop forward a few years and see where we are at with it all, but I've got to be patient like everyone else - the aspiration is still to get into a Stadium at PC by 2020, but GS said if it's another couple of years after that it wouldn't be the end of the world - I'd agree and 4 years looks ambitious to me - but hey shoot for the stars and you may hit the moon. It was a great job by all concerned last night; I'm so glad I went.

As a slight aside I have it on very good authority that the numbers for the Loyal Luton SC version of this tomorrow evening aren't very good, so if anyone wants to attend (PHS74?) it might be worthwhile getting in touch with them to see if they might stretch their admission policy for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the only opportunity to go to a presentation as such (unless you are one of the key stakeholders who will have a private one – also tomorrow I think). The other open sessions starting at the weekend are just that, so there will be people there to ask questions of (consultants; etc) and there will be more by way of exhibits than were there yesterday, but no formal presentations.

 

[Kenneth E End]

As an aside on point 3 - KPMG were advising the company I work for, which almost lead to bankruptcy after their suggestions!

 

[egg and chips]

Anyone on here go to the LTST presentation yesterday? I've heard it was impressive stuff, I'm looking forward to seeing the displays at one of the events next week.

I went yesterday, excellent presentation with Gary and Manuel, these people seem to have thought of everything, plenty of diagrams of the development and Q&A, mightily impressive.
Go along to the events and see for your self, highly recommended.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Decided to try and get to the event tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing the plans in some more detail and getting some more information on the wider plan.

Bit worried about attendance for these events though, havent seen too much promotion of these events outside of the usual channels for Luton fans i.e Outlaws and a few Facebook groups. Would hope there is some sort of media campaign in the works to promote the events next week in the pipeline, really need to get local people in to these events and not just fans.

 

[Bosox]

Would hope there is some sort of media campaign in the works to promote the events next week in the pipeline, really need to get local people in to these events and not just fans.

The club tweeted this in response to someone who asked them this question on Twitter:

Luton Town FC ‏@LutonTown
@LevienOfLuton @Sjluton hi 52,000 leaflets going out in @LutonOnSunday this weekend and an extensive social media campaign over the week.

https://twitter.com/LutonTown/status/733723190279688192

 

[genesimmons]

The town has been going to dogs for years and this will be what place needs to rejuvinate it. Defo dont think another cinemas needed just down road. But like i said in earlier posts luton could do with a proper music venue. Embaressment town lutons size does not have a proper music, venue, been a few poor attempts to establish one

 

[Kenneth E End]

The town has been going to dogs for years and this will be what place needs to rejuvinate it. Defo dont think another cinemas needed just down road. But like i said in earlier posts luton could do with a proper music venue. Embaressment town lutons size does not have a proper music, venue, been a few poor attempts to establish one

There was an article a couple of weeks ago which said that Luton was now the 6th trendiest place to live in the UK. I found it hard to believe at the time, but it has some sense in it.
-We have a major international airport, which is growing has passenger numbers growing about 15-20% year on year - this year it'll go through 13m for the first time.
-Nowhere in the UK had more business start ups in the previous 12 months than Luton.
-House prices have gone through the roof as London commuters can't afford to buy closer and would rather go by train to work every day.
-Despite this, the number of 18-30 year olds moving to the town is also very high.

This project will reinvigorate the town. Our MD wants to make Luton the next Shoreditch.

 

[Hatter86]

Just got back from the exhibition. Wow, just wow.

The whole thing blows me away. It's an incredibly ambitious project but after hearing from both Gary Sweet and the architect, I'm left in no doubt that everything is in hand.

The stadium plans look fantastic, but what really impressed me is everything around it. New supermarket, 1,800 persn music venue, bars, restaurants, apartments. Looks like its going to be a great place to be around.

However the key to it all seems to be the Newlands park development. The only potential sticking point is that the council are incredibly mindful not to pull people out of the town center for retail and leisure purposes. In order to get the go ahead, we're going to need to do it in a way that the council approves of. From the sounds of it, the leisure aspects of it are going to be catered toward serving those who will work in the offices that are being built on site. A huge gym, cafe's and places to eat were mention with some retail units. There was also talk of a running, IMAX cinema and, weirdly, rock climbing.

Planning application goes in in four weeks time, then the hard work starts. It's really going to happen this time, isn't it..?

 

[BelizeHatter]

Probably a blessing it's taken so long. We'd have been in trouble dropping through the League's with a new stadium, it would likely have had no imagination or soul or thought for the town. Biggest blessing is we found 2020. Can't imagine better owners are possible. Thanks Gents. Mind you Karma comes in considering the run of previous morons

 

[Hatter86]

Gary Sweet has to take a lot of the plaudits. It was him who forced Gurney out, he put 2020 together and he who is moving us forward toward Power Court.

 

[Judge Dredd]

The website has now been updated with all the info from the exhibitions:
http://www.2020developments.co.uk/index.php

It all looks and sounds so damn good. Surely something is going to go wrong now...

 

[Bosox]

The website has now been updated with all the info from the exhibitions:
http://www.2020developments.co.uk/index.php

It all looks and sounds so damn good. Surely something is going to go wrong now...

Sure does, please don't let the NIMBYs ruin it.

Reading through all the stuff on there I see it mentions that the stadium will have safe-standing areas. I might have missed it but hadn't seen that mentioned before. Big fan of that, hope it happens.

 

[Hatter86]

Clubs twitter reporting well over 1,000 people cam down today. Amazing.

 

[Kenneth E End]

I'm not going to be able to get to the exhibition until Thursday, but have had a good read of the 2020 Developments website. It looks absolutely incredible. Ambitious, unique, innovative and sustainable. The frontage of the stadium looks a bit like the Centre Court entrance at Wimbledon.

Power Court Overview:

The proposals see Power Court transformed from a post-industrial problem site into a dynamic and aesthetically appealing environment - delivering new and exciting facilities to enhance the life of the town every day and evening of the year. The impressive and iconic stadium design sits on a raised podium which allows access to a range of public and multi-use spaces including:

• New River Lea frontage for St Mary’s Road within an enhanced public space to complement the grade 1-listed St Mary’s church
• Approx. 500 residential apartments distributed across 5 blocks
• Approx. 50,000 sq ft of bars, restaurants, lifestyle retail units and a small niche cinema
• A new 1,800 capacity live venue
• Medium size hotel and banqueting venue
• Creche/play area and potential education and medical facilities
• 25,500 sq ft supermarket and 100 car parking spaces

...the project team consulted Luton Town supporters groups on several occasions to come up with a 'shopping list' of must-have elements. These included: Design / Structure, No soulless bowl, four stands, proximity to the pitch, steep raked seating, low roof, safe standing, home end / town end, atmosphere...

They have thought of everything. The only slight concern is the transport and traffic planning. Converting people to walk, cycle, use buses, get the train rather than drive has been the cornerstone of many large infrastructure projects across the UK - in reality, people still want to drive.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Supposedly, to counteract noise from the away fans, there will be 4,000 seats at one end of the pitch at a shallower angle.

 

[Hatter86]

Yea I read something about this. The away seating and roof will be designed and angled in a way to dissipate the noise where as the home stands will be designed in a way that holds the noise in and makes it resonate. All clever acoustic science which I understood nothing of...

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Went to the exhibition yesterday and it was 1000% better than I was expecting. The amount of work and attention to detail in these plans is staggering and far in excess of what I was expecting, was blown away by it to be honest. I have been to a few these exhibition type things in my time supporting the club and this was so much more through then any of the others I can remember.

I tell you what I will be absolutely gutted if this doesn't happen now!

 

[Amber Nectar]

Without reading all of this thread (although I've read some) what's the planned timescale to move in to the new stadium? And will this planning application need to be decided by a government minister?

Stadium proposal looks great by the way.

 

[AtaturkOzgutson]

Yea I read something about this. The away seating and roof will be designed and angled in a way to dissipate the noise where as the home stands will be designed in a way that holds the noise in and makes it resonate. All clever acoustic science which I understood nothing of...

Which goes against the idea that having two fanbases close and singing off being best for atmosphere.

Otherwise, this project is looking more and more impressive. I'm not sure about Luton being the 6th trendiest place to life (I can think of a few reasons, without even getting down into the methodology of it!) but this strikes me as one of those projects that really does benefit everyone involved. It's a void in the town at the moment, and makes me think of Rotherham being one of those clubs who somehow moved closer to the town centre when relocating. Certainly is rare to see.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Without reading all of this thread (although I've read some) what's the planned timescale to move in to the new stadium?

Start of the 20/21 season is the aim. Personally a little skeptical of that timescale but we'll see.

And will this planning application need to be decided by a government minister?

There was some discussion about this on our forum and seemed like there were some conflicting answers, so this is a bit unclear.
http://members.boardhost.com/lutonoutlaws/thread/1463925005.html

 

[Judge Dredd]

Which goes against the idea that having two fanbases close and singing off being best for atmosphere.

Agree with this. I love everything about the proposal with this one exception. I don't really see the point, atmosphere comes from opposing fans being loud, not being artificially quietened.

 

[Amber Nectar]

Start of the 20/21 season is the aim. Personally a little skeptical of that timescale but we'll see.

There was some discussion about this on our forum and seemed like there were some conflicting answers, so this is a bit unclear.
http://members.boardhost.com/lutonoutlaws/thread/1463925005.html

Maybe is a little optimistic with the timescale. If the plans are referred to a government minister then this could add on additional 6-12 months.

However, once moved in I strongly believe this willl help Luton move up a couple of divisions.

 

[Kenneth E End]

I went down to the exhibition earlier to speak to the guys behind the project. This will be absolutely awesome.

There wasn't much more information available that was already available online, however it seemed more 'real'. We've been in this situation before in public consultations and you just know as soon as you walk away from the venue, there's going to be discontent and objection. This is totally, different. I can see no, or very little objection from any stakeholder (I'm not calling 'competition' in terms of retail and such like, as objection, as that is discounted when applying for planning permission). Every single detail has been thought through thoroughly and responded innovatively.

In terms of timeline, they hope for planning consent around Christmas, but its unlikely a brick will be laid on the site before 2018. Newlands Park will probably not be finished totally until around 2023! That is how big this project is in terms of scale. I don't see a stadium project in this country to be as complex and ambitious as this one. This is unique.

The land at J10 is 100% owned by Luton Town and there is an agreement in place for us to buy Power Court upon planning consent. No rent will be paid.

It was mentioned that existing stadia such as the Kassam Stadium and the Ricoh Arena was used as a "what not to do". The former I mentioned was probably the worst in the country in terms of planning, supporter engagement and accessibility. The project is run by football supporters for football supporters.

One concern I had was the transport issue - it will be club's job to dissuade their customers (and away supporters) from using private vehicles. To this nature, they will implement park and ride schemes and persuade people to walk to the ground or use public transport. There will be a couple of thousand parking spaces underground however.

Its crucial that the townspeople (those not LTFC fans) see the benefits of such a project. At the moment, the Power Court site is a derelict eyesore that is very difficult to build on. Nothing else is particularly feasible at this stage.

 

[Aberstone]

I'll be heading to the Hat Factory after work tomorrow, will be interested to see what the people behind the project have to say.

 

[BelizeHatter]

It's Luton...... It's gotta go tits up at some point!!!! Cant imagine a Club in the world looking for a new Stadium for longer!?!?!?

 

[Bosox]

I went down to the exhibition earlier to speak to the guys behind the project. This will be absolutely awesome.

There wasn't much more information available that was already available online, however it seemed more 'real'. We've been in this situation before in public consultations and you just know as soon as you walk away from the venue, there's going to be discontent and objection. This is totally, different. I can see no, or very little objection from any stakeholder (I'm not calling 'competition' in terms of retail and such like, as objection, as that is discounted when applying for planning permission). Every single detail has been thought through thoroughly and responded innovatively.

In terms of timeline, they hope for planning consent around Christmas, but its unlikely a brick will be laid on the site before 2018. Newlands Park will probably not be finished totally until around 2023! That is how big this project is in terms of scale. I don't see a stadium project in this country to be as complex and ambitious as this one. This is unique.

The land at J10 is 100% owned by Luton Town and there is an agreement in place for us to buy Power Court upon planning consent. No rent will be paid.

It was mentioned that existing stadia such as the Kassam Stadium and the Ricoh Arena was used as a "what not to do". The former I mentioned was probably the worst in the country in terms of planning, supporter engagement and accessibility. The project is run by football supporters for football supporters.

One concern I had was the transport issue - it will be club's job to dissuade their customers (and away supporters) from using private vehicles. To this nature, they will implement park and ride schemes and persuade people to walk to the ground or use public transport. There will be a couple of thousand parking spaces underground however.

Its crucial that the townspeople (those not LTFC fans) see the benefits of such a project. At the moment, the Power Court site is a derelict eyesore that is very difficult to build on. Nothing else is particularly feasible at this stage.

Echo all of this. I went along yesterday and boy was it worth the trip, it really leaps out at you when you're there just how much work has gone into this project. The 2020 representatives there were great as well answering every question anyone could come up with. Full marks all round from me and it was good to see some people who are just local residents there who were impressed by the project and will support it.

Seems like the two main vulnerabilities are the transport questions over Power Court and the potential for other retailers to object to Newlands (such as the Mall or M***** K*****). They insist that Newlands would not be competing directly with the Mall as they are looking for high end retail and that everyone would benefit from the project as a whole because it would bring more people into the Town. As for MK well fuck them, why should they have a monopoly on retail in the region.

The 2020 reps had, I thought, a lot of strong arguements on transport. Both they and the council have engaged specialist consultants to model the impact and they are right to point out the public transport links and the fact that PC is walkable for a much larger percentage of the fanbase than KR. You also have to remeber that by going to PC you ease the traffic nightmare around KR on a matchday, you have to look at the effect on transport of the whole of Luton. As Gary Sweet says KR is probably one of the worst postioned grounds in the country, you'd never get planning permission for that if you were trying to build it now.

This project is so good for the club and the Town, 2020 deserve a huge amount of credit for getting it to this stage. We are so close to something very special.

 

[Kenneth E End]

This has gone a little bit quiet in the last couple of weeks. Without sounding negative, this is the perfect example of a project that could suffer as a result of Brexit.

I think 2020 would be wise to put off their planning application for a while whilst the dust settles.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Not exactly going to be high-end retailers queuing up for a spot at Newlands Park if the arse falls out of the economy are there? Great timing!

 

[Kenneth E End]

And it was all going so swimmingly too. Everyone was getting behind it.

It is a very ambitious project, perhaps too ambitious. But I trust 2020 to do the right thing for the club and hopefully the commitments are still in place and the backers are still right behind it.