News

Council Decision Crucial To Club And Region - Alex

10 January 2012

Gloucestershire's bid for planning permission to redevelop the County Ground will be discussed at a meeting of Bristol City Council's Planning Committee on Wednesday evening.

Today skipper Alex Gidman spelled out the importance of the club receiving the go ahead, not only for the future of Gloucestershire cricket, but to the people of Bristol and surrounding regions.

Alex told this website: "Wednesday night’s meeting is of huge importance to the future of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, not only for the playing side, which is my prime concern as captain, but also the many community activities the club is involved in which benefit a wide range of people throughout the county.

"I am excited and pleased by the progress we are making in bringing on young cricketers, whilst recognising that building a successful team is a long-term objective.  Clearly, our Academy is developing cricketers very much along the right lines and this is massively important to us.

"Should planning permission for our ground development not be given, this will have a major effect on our ability to develop successful Gloucestershire teams. 

"Firstly, it will seriously harm our ability to identify and recruit the better young cricketers in the region.  Secondly, it would be bound to harm our ability to retain those players who have already developed.  All of this is clearly finance-dependent and no development will significantly restrict the budget. 

"If we do get the go-ahead to develop our ground, it will not only boost our chances of success on the field, but just as importantly, provide funds to support the large number of community programmes the Club currently runs in Bristol each year.  These include:

* Junior School Cricket

* Women’s and Girl’s Cricket

* Ethnic Minority Cricket

* Disability Cricket

"We are also desperately keen, as a Club, to continue staging International cricket in Bristol and remain the only venue in the City and the South West to host major International sport.  

"This brings wider financial benefits for Bristol.  A UWE Economic Impact Study has identified that each International brings £1 million income to the city. 

"Should we become a World Cup venue in 2019, or be a venue for any other major tournament, this could rise to as much as £4 million.  That is apart from the fact that a worldwide TV audience of as many as 50 million people would circle in on Bristol, something which would benefit local businesses, shops and groups.  

"To sum up, our Ground Development Plan is an extremely exciting project with huge implications not only for the club, but for Bristol and the wider region."

The Planning Committee meeting at the Council House, College Green, on Wednesday evening starts at 6pm. Gloucestershire CCC would welcome the attendance of any supporters who wish to back the club's planning application.

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