This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

I believe that planning permission has been granted By Croydon Council and the Mayor of London has rubber stamped this as well. CPFC still have to rehouse the residents in Wooderson Close (compensation and moving costs have been agreed with the Council, not sure about the residents themselves?)
However Sainsburys still remain the block in the chain, will they negotiate and sell the small piece of land we require to complete the new stand works?
If not compulsory purchase may come into play here and that could take years!
So not sure how you are confident on 2025 as a completion date unless you sit on the board of Sainsburys.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

High public-profile businesses like Sainsbury's are notoriously PR aware and highly sensitive about negative publicity. Until now, with the rebuild not rubber-stamped by the authorities, there's been nothing of substance worth talking about but now the green light has been given (if it's been given) to start the work, my guess is that Sainsbury's will strike the required deal rather than long out years of bad publicity and high legal costs for a case that will end in them losing anyway, eventually, to a compulsory purchase order. They'll use the threat of doing that to maximise their return but I find it hard to believe a solution won't be found that doesn't unduly delay things.

If 2025 is really the opening date (three years from now) I'd guess building work, which is going to be mainly behind the Old Stand and therefore won't interfere with the existing ground until maybe the last twelve months of the build would start towards the end of this season. It'd be the 2024-25 season that would see real disruption (in-season shutting of the Old Stand) but by then, a substantial part of the "new" old stand should be towering over the existing stand and by that point already looking like what it'll end up being.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

Expect inferior workmanship. You’ll probably have labourers carrying out tradesman’s work to recoup the money lost in materials. Or the builder never being in a position to start the job.
Last thing I’d want is a building firm working in my house, that don’t want to be there.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

No chance

This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

I hear that a builder has been appointed his name is Dave and he will start once he finishes a couple of conservatories in Selsdon and a kitchen installation in Cheam.

He works with his brother Steve and they should be finished with the new stand ready for the start of our celebration for 200 years in existence.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

& provide a couple of labourers.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

Maybe just award the contract to Casual !!

Pro USA & Israel

This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

The best bit of building we could do is to build a massive brick wall across all entrances to Sainsbury's!

I wish we never had that god awful supermarket there in the first place, as they will hold firm now and create many issues for any future plans to expand.

I have never and will never go in that place as a matter of principle.

I am lucky enough to remember our ground before they were let in, and I can now only dream of those days returning.

Some people are like Slinkies … not really good for anything, but you can’t help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

I’d love to Jimenez, but too busy

This post has been merged from a topic called 'New Stand' by Penge Eagle

In fairness, if the club hadn't sold the land to Sainsbury's then it may well have gone out of business at the time. The whole place could have been a housing estate by now, with an even bigger supermarket!

I've said it before, but the bit of land we need from Sainsbury's is so small that either they are being unbelievably difficult about selling it, or CPFC are being unbelievably tight about paying for it. If the former is true then we have, and always have had, recourse through a CPO, which Croydon Council will seemingly support. There is no obvious reason for this and/or the requirements of the Section 106 legal agreement to be long-term stumbling blocks.

It remains my opinion that CPFC has prioritised other areas of the business ahead of the stand (the academy, the team, the training ground) and/or that the pandemic and economic downturn caused the board (principally the original American investors, who were brought in to speed up these projects) to get cold feet.

Personally, I have no problem at all with the club being cautious about the investment in the new stand. We want to become a bigger club of course, but we are far from debt-free as it is, and we don't want to over-reach and implode financially. A big stadium is not a guarantee against financial and sporting meltdown; ask Sunderland or Leeds.

Over the years, the consequences of not running the business sustainably have included not even owning the ground, barely having a penny to spend on improving it, and of course, selling land to Sainsbury's to begin with. I'm not in any rush to criticise the club for taking care over this project therefore, especially when they have delivered so impressively on everything else.

Ultimately, there is scope for a new development at the Whitehorse Lane end which provides a bigger (or at least better) Sainsburys underneath a two-tier stand similar to the Holmesdale Road end. That, like the main stand project, will involve significant investment and risk, but it could be done.

The deal to sell the land to Sainsbury's need not haunt us forever.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (22 Jun 2022 11.41am)