Size Does Matter

We have said it before and we are saying it again, the stadium and associated commercial developments are too big for the Memorial Ground site. It appears Rovers' stadium company are also realising that they may have squeezed in too much for their own good.

The image above (click it to see a larger version) is a plan view of the stadium site and surrounding area. The neighbouring properties have been shaded green, the perimeter road is blue and the stadium building itself is shown in red. This shows pretty clearly that there is very little space left on the site outside the building itself.

What this does not show are the vertical differences. The stadium will be enclosed on all four sides by seven story high student accommodation with hundreds of windows looking out over the neighbouring properties. In the above image, houses to the right of the stadium are already on lower ground so their rooftops are at about the same level as the ground within the stadium site.

The promise to make the small area of land in the south west corner (shown in yellow) into an amenity ground for the homes along Alton Rd, Downend Rd and Strathmore Rd was one of the things in the proposed development that was to compensate those resident for the loss of privacy and daylight that the stadium would cause. This is one of the things that helped to tip the balance when the planning application was being decided.

No Room to Work

There was little enough space on the site to conduct the build anyway, but a phased build, while matches are still played at the ground, borders on insanity.

It appears the stadium company have realised they simply do not have the necessary space to do this and this is why they want to raise the level of this "amenity land" which is currently on the same level as the houses up four or five meters to the level of the pitch. This will allow the construction site to extend outside of the existing site boundaries.

The fact that the construction will close off half the site to the public means that at least one of the three public entrances will be for construction use only. To compensate the stadium company expect to open up the Alton Rd emergency exit as a public entrance. Something that has been explicitly forbidden for many years.

No Room to Turn Around

But even once the stadium, student accommodation, hotel, shop, offices and restaurant/conference centre are built, the lack of space will continue to be a problem both for the operation of the facility and for the surrounding homes.

The perimeter road (shown in blue) will be one way only with all vehicles entering at the top left and having to go clockwise around the building and then exit at the top left. This includes large vehicles like coaches, refuse lorries, delivery lorries and emergency vehicles such as ambulances and fire engines.

The developer has to do computer modelling (called swept paths) to demonstrate that these larger vehicles can actually negotiate the four corners of the stadium. There are a number of places or "pinch points" where turning is very "tight" and only just permits the vehicles to make it round.

The white spaces (such as they are) around the perimeter road are parking spaces. It does not take much imagination to realise that one or two badly parked cars could spell chaos by blocking all vehicles on site, and could present an actual hazard should emergency vehicles need to get around the building.

No Space for Waste

With 550 students, possibly over 100 hotel guests, workers in the offices and other facilities in the complex, a lot of rubbish will be generated. As part of the process of "discharging conditions" set out by the planning permission, the stadium company have to explain to the council how they will manage various things on the site including waste disposal. The report they submitted shows:

• It is likely waste collection will be required on a daily basis due to the amount of waste being generated by all the enabling developments.


• Due to the volume of waste being generated Eurobins, small compactors and skips are proposed to ensure adequate waste storage, especially for recyclable waste.


• Many of the Eurobins will be located close to the perimeter fence.


• A number of parking bays will have to be used to ‘park’ the Eurobins, thus reducing yet again the limited number of parking spaces.

The management of waste will cause noise as it is deposited (often late) and collected (often early) and since it will be kept near the edge of the site lead to unpleasant smells drifting into the neighbouring gardens.

There are also two internal stores for waste and they are to be located (according to the document) at the South East and South west corners of the development. The document recognises that waste removal lorries will potentially have difficulty manoeuvring and recommends that some of the car parking spaces be kept vacant over night to ensure the waste can be collected.

Truly, this site is not big enough to accommodate all of the uses that the stadium company intend to put it to. This madness is now beginning to show as they move from "back of fag packet" plans and face the realities of making it work. And as ever when they need more of anything it is the residents who end up suffering the consequences.