Gloucestershire County Cricket Club (GCCC) is exploring opportunities to enhance the County Ground and wants to keep you, our neighbours and supporters, informed and hear your views on the proposals.
The County Ground has been the home of GCCC since 1889 and has hosted international games since 1999, becoming a regular venue for England One Day International (ODI) matches since 2003. This is the only major international sporting event to be held regularly in Bristol and indeed the South West. In order to continue to host these prestigious games for Bristol and the region a number of improvements have to be made to the ground.
Currently, the County Ground has a total of 3,668 permanent seats, which with the addition of temporary seats rises to a maximum of 16,000 for ODI matches.
For international cricket to continue at the County Ground (and in the South West), GCCC must conform to minimum standards specified by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which requires a minimum of 18,000 seats for the bigger matches, a “World Class” media centre, commensurate corporate entertainment facilities and a number of other technical requirements involving the playing facilities. In order to compete with other international venues, GCCC is seeking to deliver a 20,000 capacity stadium, the majority of which should be permanent seats.
Keeping international cricket at the County Ground is vital to securing the future of GCCC in Bristol. It provides an important source of revenue for the Club, helps develop players of international standing, and provides wider economic benefits for the City of Bristol. GCCC seeks to be one of the host venues for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, which will take place in England, as well as the 2014 Twenty20 World Cup.
Therefore GCCC is currently producing plans for the enhancement of the existing Ground. This will include: a 20,000 seat capacity stadium; a new Media Centre; improved conference facilities; an upgraded public gymnasium facility including a swimming pool and an enhanced education facility. In order to fund the proposals, the Ground may need to accommodate ‘enabling development’ and is considering the inclusion of student accommodation for up to 550 students within the proposals.
Following GCCC's consultation with local residents last year and discussions with the residents' liaison group, the traffic management strategy including the provision of two Park and Ride services and road closure schemes which was used for the recent Elton John concert will be retained and reviewed as part of the forthcoming development proposals.
These plans have been produced at the same time as the design for the proposed Primary School, located on the adjacent playing fields. GCCC has been in discussion with Bristol City Council and is seeking an agreement to provide use of the cricket ground for a school playing field in return for continued provision of car parking. GCCC’s proposals will not impact on the plans for the school and GCCC believes that the 2 organisations can happily co-exist.
Public Exhibition
GCCC distributed 2,500 leaflets to local residents and also wrote to all GCCC members explaining the planned development and inviting them to a public exhibition on 31st July and 1st August.
This provided the club with an opportunity to explain the scheme in greater detail using the drawings and plans that have been produced so far and listening to views and suggestions that could be incorporated into the design process.
The display boards from this exhibition detailing the reasons for the development and the plans can be found here.
We have also created a "frequently asked questions" section which has been collated from the feedback received and most common questions raised at the exhibitions. If any of your queries remain unanswered please don't hesitate to contact me.
New Public Exhibition
Since the launch of the proposals at the public consultation event in July, the design team has reviewed the comments and suggestions received from the public at the exhibition and have amended the proposals in response to many of these comments. Feedback received was generally very supportive of the proposals, which are crucial if the Club is to retain its coveted One Day International status beyond 2011, and the Club is looking to progress the proposals to an application shortly.
There were some people that had concerns over traffic and parking, as well as the impact of the proposed student accommodation, which is vital to the funding of the scheme. As a result of these comments, the Club has made some significant changes. This has included revisiting the viability of the proposals and the Club is currently exploring alternative sources of funding that would enable the amount of student accommodation to be reduced.
The Club is now publishing revised and more detailed plans and inviting the public to make further comments on the proposals. Last week the Club distributed 2,500 leaflets outlining the revised scheme to neighbours and inviting them to attend an exhibition at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club on 05 September 2009 between 10 am and 1 pm.
The display boards from the September exhibition detailing the revised plans can be found here
Our planning application was submitted to Bristol City Council in early October and will go before their Planning Committee December/January. We believe it is essential that Bristol City Council and the media are fully aware of those who support what the Club is trying to do as well as those who are against it.
If you would like to support our plans you can write to the City Council Planning Department with your comments. Letters should be addressed to City Development, Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY including the application number (09/03891/P) or by email customerservices.ptsd@bristol.gov.uk as soon as possible.
