I wonder who the mystery investor is?

Quoted from barralad

A good post IMO but some aspects need challenging in the interest of furthering the debate.
Firstly you have to decide what "The community" actually is. It is unarguable that a site in Freeman St. or the "Top Town" area would be built in an area more densely populated but for a stadium to be built for the benefit of the WHOLE of the area covered by N.E. Lincs neither site comes close to being central to the area. Geographically Peakes Parkway is pretty close to being in the centre of N.E. Lincs. From the football clubs point of view they will have a pretty good idea of where their fan base is based informed by ticket sales and that information will have helped to inform the decision.
Secondly lets deal with the point about traffic congestion. It is quite frankly ludicrous to suggest that only the Peakes Parkway site will see traffic chaos. The majority of the people who use their cars to get to Blundell Park would continue to do so as people exercise their right to avoid public transport. Freeman St as a whole is served by no more bus services than Blundell Park. The difference with the two town centre sites is that the car traffic would be adding to already huge numbers of cars using the roads around the Town centre on the busiest shopping day of the week. The other aspect to consider is that with a Community Stadium providing other as yet unnamed facilities will see a general increase in traffic volumes. It is fair to say that with the size of crowds currently attending Blundell Park the congestion is not as serious as it might be. However I'm sure that all Town fans and the club want to see us far higher up the pyramid. What happens then? I shudder to think of the difficulties with large crowds on a fairly regular basis should we reach the Championship. These crowds would contain a large contingent of away fans adding to the road problems. In my mind it would be a lot easier to manage the traffic on ONE of the roads into town than attempt to alter the whole of the network in a very built up area.
The third point is regarding choosing the right spot or not moving at all. If you accept the view coming out of the club backed by continued figures showing substantial losses year on year that Blundell Park is unsustainable then not to move isn't an option if we are to continue to have a football club bailed out by one mans money. If outside investment could be attracted that position may well change.
In light of this it is also worth pointing out that any project to build on Freeman St. would take 10 years by the councjl's own estimate.
It should also be remembered that initially the Peakes Parkway site was offered to GTFC by the NELC Labour Party cabinet. All other action regarding feasibility has stemmed from that. Having said that it is true that the goalposts have been moved by the decision taken to knock down the Freeman St. flats.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

I'm not totally convinced a town centre site (or any location for that matter) will generate the town. Construction will create jobs temporarily (which is not to be sniffed at). Where new sports facilities create new business and jobs it tends to be in the immediate vicinity but there's a large element of displacement.

People only have so much money to spend, and unless it attracts more people to the area, you're just moving the spending from one part of town to another. Now a new ground with better facilities might attract more people to go to the match but that probably just means they won't spend that money on something else. That's good if they would otherwise spend the money on something that wouldn't benefit the local economy (Amazon, Sky/BT/Virgin, weekend in Bridlington) but I wouldn't overplay the benefits of redevelopment.

Having said that, Top Town for me is looking like the best prospect. Its right at the centre of public transport (all buses head there), it's closer to the A180 than PP. It's not far from the station. For all the hordes of away fans that will clog up the roads in the town centre if we make it back into the big time, we will have the same problem at PP with none of the public transport benefits. And none of the erm, social benefits, of Top Town pubs and eateries.

As someone pointed out to me today, a football ground is a cultural facility in the same way that a church (or I suppose museum) is. Would anyone suggest relocating Lincoln cathedral because it's difficult to drive to?

One final point, do we know what it would cost to construct a stadium with 14,000 capacity? I have the figure of £22m in my head but I don't know if that's come from any "official" source or just from gossip on here. And do we know how much that would cost to maintain compared to what Blundell Park costs? I keep hearing that BP is unsustainable, but how much is it?

Quoted from mariner2000

http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.....18-detail/story.html

I think if you are to beleive and read the points raised by the shop owner above, and I have no reason to dispute, then I would argue this is exactly what everyone thinks freemo is like.#

I also cannot aee how squashing a football stadium in next to that is really going to make any difference.

As I have said before, are you really going to want to leave your car near there or take you kid with you or let your teenager risk going on their own, exactly what sort of shops, cafes etc would be interested in this amazing retail opportunity?

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

I'm not trying to push for the Freemo site at all but I think you are missing the point. The ground would not be surrounded by slums and druggies. Putting the ground there would be one small part of a total regeneration of the area by a developer and the council. Hence the 10 years.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Have we got a spare 10 years?