Council asks for progress report
Pompey were today meeting with Portsmouth City Council's most senior officer for talks about the club's proposed stadium development.
City council chief executive David Williams was set to talk to the club to get an update on its progress with plans for the 100m development at Horsea Island.
The meeting comes a day after The News reported the council's concerns that plans to include a superstore in the stadium development would not get past government inspectors.
And the council wants to chase Pompey up on when it will appoint lawyers to deal with the transfer of land at Horsea Island – vital if the development is to go ahead.
To help make the transfer of the land easier the council joined forces with Defence Estates and Crown Estates, which both own parts of the land, to try to make the process run smoothly.
But until the football club appoints the lawyers, the plans can't progress.
It has also emerged that the council is worried that proposals for an M275 motorway bridge to connect the stadium to the city's roads network will also come under scrutiny in any public inquiry.
Gerald Vernon-Jackson, leader of the city council, said today's meeting was the latest in a string of meetings between the club and the council.
Cllr Vernon-Jackson said: 'We need to get the football club to get lawyers in place so we can shift the land to them.
'Part of the agreement of us selling them the land was that they would pay for the lawyers.
'We also need to talk about their proposal for the bridge from the M275, by the sails of the south. If they are just relying on cars it will make it harder to grant planning permission.
'We are very encouraged by the plans but there is a sense of urgency to get these issues resolved.'
As The News reported yesterday, the city council fears that even if it approves a stadium plan which included out-of-town shopping, the government would reject them because it has committed itself to protecting city centre shops.
Caroline Collings, who is the Portsmouth representative for the Federation of Small Businesses, told The News she felt the impact on the rest of the city's shops was hard to predict until Pompey actually come forward with a clear idea of what kind of retailers they are in discussions with.
'If it is supermarkets there is already a lot of competition around there, with a Tesco (at North Harbour) and Sainsbury's in Farlington,' she said.
'If it is individual shops the areas it could affect most are likely to
be North End and Cosham.
'It all very much depends on the type of retail the club is thinking about. It could even be an opportunity for small businesses, depending on the size of the units and the rent.
'It has the potential to take away business from other parts of Portsmouth but I think we should all try and be positive about it.'
Elisa Linley, marketing manager at Gunwharf Quays, said that at the moment the popular waterfront complex didn't feel threatened by Pompey's plans.
'I'm sure the city planners will only approve the plan if it isn't competing with anything that is already in place,' she said.
'Part of the reason Gunwharf Quays was made with outlet stores was so it wouldn't compete with Commercial Road so we would expect the same thing to happen in this case.'
Rhoda Joseph, the centre director for Cascades in the city centre, said: 'There will be concern about how this out-of-town development will affect Cascades.
'It is known in the retail industry that out-of-town developments can have a massive impact on town centres. I don't mean to be negative about things but the football stadium development could impact on a lot of parts of Portsmouth.'
Click Next Page to see why Pompey are keeping an eye on MerseysidePompey will be keeping a close eye on events in Merseyside in the coming weeks as Everton's dream of moving into a 50,000-seat stadium outside of Liverpool is currently under scrutiny in a public inquiry.
In a strikingly similar situation Everton's 400m scheme would see the Merseyside club move to Kirby from their current home at Goodison Park and the development would include a complex of shops, offices, hotels as well as a Tesco superstore.
Everton's plan was originally approved by Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council in June but Hazel Blears, secretary of state for communities and local government, rejected it.
The public inquiry into Everton's stadium is set to last for four weeks.
The club says if the plans get given the green light more than 2,300 jobs could be created but the plans are opposed by a host of local authorities, including Liverpool City Council, for similar reasons to those which could blight the Pompey scheme – the impact a new retail development would have on other shopping centres.
A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said: 'It is the impact the retail development would have on Liverpool city centre and other areas that we object to.'
And Portsmouth City Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson has also spoken of the likelihood of the Pompey scheme being called in by the government, and the decision being taken out of the hands of the council, because of the significant amount of new shops.
Elisabeth Adlington, a spokeswoman for the Department of Communities and Local Government, told The News there are three main ways in which a decision about a development such as Pompey's could be taken out of the city council's hands.
If a local authority turns down an application, the applicant can appeal to the planning inspectorate, who then considers the case often in a public hearing.
Occasionally ministers decide an appeal is so important it should be considered by them directly. So-called 'recovered appeals' still involve hearings but ministers make the final decision.
Rarely, a decision is considered so important it is 'called in' by ministers even before it goes to the local council. This happens in less than 0.01 per cent of cases.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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