Ground development

[vim]

Reading the article it would appear to me that nothing much has changed. Is the John Pearce (no me neither) stand that remains going to be the new seating at that end?

Is a tower block going on the site of the scoreboard? It will be a bit noisy for the residents and how will they get to and from their car park? The entrance would be right on the roundabout and the filter lane round to Rainsford Road/Coval Lane.

[jimmy]

Looking at the other venues for premier league darts they are large indoor arenas, 10-20,000 seats,, the kind used for pop concerts etc, perhaps Mr Bowden's suggestion that the new county ground could be a venue isn't just hubris, it might be a clue to the future, the whole development has collapsed, the club will fold/relocate and Chelmsford will get its much needed indoor arena that befits a city.

[bwildered]

Original plans  was to put tower block in main scoreboard corner , with the new scoreboard being relocation by Tiptree stand .

[jimmy]

The model can still be viewed in a Chelmsford estate agents window, if it isn't covered in dust and the rings of coffee cups I think it should be updated to reflect the changing nature of the scheme, a team of modellers could be permanently based in the window constantly modifying like sycophantic courtiers pandering to the fluctuating whims of a crazed , egotistical 16th century monarch.

[Mog]

Tipped off by a friend I listened to the BBC Essex Around the wicket programme from 9th June, where John Faragher is interviewed and asked various questions. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0682frd
The area of interest to me, anyway, was the discussion regrading the 'ground redevelopment'. It's contained between 2:38-2:46 of the four-hour broadcast.

Faragher, who was Vice-Chairman when the Ground Redevelopment plan was originally unveiled by David East circa 2008, has now had a significant period for reflection and believes that the Club made the correct decision by not continuing with the phases two and three, following the erection of the artless, utilitarian block of flats which now occupies the Clubs' former car park. He of course fails to acknowledge the loss ECCC incurred by that one part of the development.
He continues that he will not allow the Club to get in to debt - then shows his complete ignorance of how stadia development is typically financed. At the time the Club stated that the residential development would pay for the spectator facilities and make the Club a tidy profit and anyone who raised any concerns were told that they didn't know what they were talking about, and that No Change Essex knew best - and clearly still do 
So, having wasted an entire decade, which has delivered absolutely zero in terms of spectator facilities at Chelmsford, he advises they are discussing with their advisers and experts - no time scale is provided.
Faragher then states that his legacy; (I seem to recall East making the same arrogant, self-undulgent statement when the original scheme was unveiled), that his lasting legacy will be to make [Essex County Ground] "the very best non-test match ground in the country". All the best with that ambition! It is currently and indisputably the very poorest, spectator deficient, non test match HQ ground in the whole first-class set-up. Where the club have spent around £4.99 on facilities in about 30 years!
I considered that if an Essex CCC member/supporter hadn't been to The County Ground for around 35 years, then returned today they would instantly recognise it - as virtually no feature of it has altered.
Quite simply Essex have spent all this time doing nothing whilst others have actually got on and delivered.

[Valentines Park]

I'm glad the development stalled as the proposed spectator facilities were even worse than those that currently exist.

[Andy]

Let's face it, apart from one deluded person (presumably still in the middle east) no-one thought this would be a viable scheme. The ECB was forcing clubs to be more entrepreneurial through developing their grounds. This was only going to work if the club had actually bought the old hospital ground and developed part of it for offices back in the previous recession. As it was the club neither developed the ground nor bring in talent to replace GG. Hence 20 years of no change Essex. 

[bwildered]

Perhaps new revealed  platinum sponsor Weston Homes might be interested in building flats in the surrounding area ( just like the Hythe , Colchester ) and reignite previous plans .

[Postman]

Thanks Mog for highlighting this interview. Presumably from what the chairman said, we've wound up the deal with the developers and retrieved the £600k plus interest that was held in escrow, so now's the time to spend some money-not the squillions of the former plan-just enhancing the facilities to make up for years of neglect. New loos in the pavilion would be top of many peoples' list plus more modern floodlights, for which we can probably get some cash from the ECB. We don't need to waste more years debating this, just to get cracking next winter. It's a pity, however, that Mr Faragher hasn't made a statement more widely as he promised at the AGM.

[vim]

Something I heard was that when you think that the development is dead it rises up again to haunt everyone.

The ground development from beyond the grave (again).

I hope that David East tries property development in Dubai, especially as they still have a debtors prison.

[nat]

You all seem to forget that the ground re-development was all about improving facilities for the players and to enhance corporate facilities. Any spectator improvements would be a by-product.

Improved player/corporate facilities are still needed but can be done on a much more modest basis than previously envisaged.

[vim]

You are right about enhancing Corporate facilities Nat. At one of the members forums at the time, David East and Keith Brown were absolutely wetting themselves about the Banquetting Suite.

This would have gone at the Hays Close end in front of the new flats.

[Valentines Park]

Any spectator improvements would be a by-product.

That might have been acceptable but there were literally no improvements for spectators in that plan.

Unless less stinky bogs in the new pavilion counts. 

[spirali]

I considered that if an Essex CCC member/supporter hadn't been to The County Ground for around 35 years, then returned today they would instantly recognise it - as virtually no feature of it has altered.

That would be me, more or less - not quite 35 years, but since the early 90s I've only been a couple of times a season or so, and some years not at all. I was there yesterday for the first time this year, and you're quite right - walking into the ground is always like entering a timewarp, as it still looks as it did in the 80s - the one significant change is the general air of decay. Good for ye olde nostalgia, perhaps, but not so good for ECCC in present time. 

[nat]

I don't smell an air of decay at the ECG and I've been attending for 45 years+. I remember the bucket in a tent that acted as the public toilet. I remember the harsh (on the posterior) wooden 'terracing'. I remember the main/only scoreboard being the mobile scoring van last used at Colchester during festival week. I remember when the Tom Pearce stand didn't exist.

True that the pavilion side of the ground needs upgrading. We should crowd fund the necessary cash. There must be some well upholstered Essex boys out there.