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Old Posted Mar 16, 2005, 12:18 AM
nito nito is offline
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There has been massive debate over the years; especially for the new Wembley stadium. It is afterall a national stadium and not an actual club stadium for football. For instance people in the North of England in say Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, etc were against the new Wembley being built on the ground of the old Wembley simply because it is not in a centralised location for the entire population to get to. Highly detailed plans were drawn up for instance for the new Wembley to be built just outside Birmingham, which is a city roughly in the centre of all the major urban areas and general population of the country.

The entire media in England was divided over whether the stadium should be built on the site of the old stadium because of its tradition and memories, or that it should be outside Birmingham where the greatest catchment of people could reach it within the shortest amount of time.

Now even when the actual site had been finalised, problems arose in how it should be designed. The twin towers for instance were an international symbol, but there was no way that they could be incorporated into the new stadium which is around 2.5x larger than the old Wembley (yet with only 10,000 more seats). Many people weren't happy with the demolition of the towers, but now people are starting to like the arch. Problems do however continue to exist; partly due to the fact that due to the size and dimensions of the arch it has affected television reception to several hundred local people. There are even hardcore England football fans who are from the north and will boycott the stadium being in London full stop such is the anger that it was allowed to be built there


Twickenham is unfortunate in that it does not have its own immediate station for rapid transportation of people around and out of the city before and after games. The main problem with Twickenham is thus the flows of people to and from the surrounding stations which can be a few minutes away. However the new stand incorporates much needed local community amenities such as dance halls, etc and that was a sure fire winner for expansion of the stadium.


Now the Olympic Stadium is something different. Some people aren't against the stadium itself as the stadium would be the final jewel in the crown for the regeneration of the Stratford Rail Lands. The main NIMBYism here is the Olympics itself which is seen by some as a waste of money (ie the money could be better spent on police, schools, transport, etc...)


Ashburton Grove is a different story, because it is fronted on three sides by tube, suburban, metro and national railway lines. The current home of Arsenal FC is hemned in on all sides by residential streets. However the main concern by local residents is in the after-match crowds where fights do start.


The massive expansion of Stamford Bridge is also something different. Curently the stadium is surrounded on two sides by railway lines, but currently on one side of the stadium lies a residential development which is actually "fused" with the stadium. This is a relic of the previous owner's aim at raising money for previous expansion to the stadium. Obviously the residents of the development would have to be booted out for the stadium to be expanded.


With the Oval, many people thought that it was out of touch with the rest of the stadium dating back 160 years. But local opposition was due to the fact sunlight might be impeded or that more people would be around the stadium due to the expansion.


There really isn't any opposition to the Dome becoming an arena. But there is anger that the dome itself has been left to decay for 3 years.


The main problem with the Croydon Arena is that there are essentially two developers aiming to redevelop this 'gateway' site. One wishes to build an arena and various other commercial and residential buildings on the site. The other developer wishes to build several very large towers....but no arena. The general consensus within the local community, the borough council and the GLA is that this site is perfect for an arena. Debate still goes on, but its likely that the arena will actually be built.
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