Villa Park redevelopment

[Mazrim]

Fair enough.

[mikeyp102]

1 hour ago, imavillan said:

I have. I'm a Bristol City supporter and I can often go to a home game at Ashton Gate and be back home in Birmingham following the match sooner than I would had a gone to a Villa game.

This is taking things too far, trains are not great after the game, but longer than coming back from Bristol, I’m not buying that 

[sidcow]

23 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

This is taking things too far, trains are not great after the game, but longer than coming back from Bristol, I’m not buying that 

Yeah, I thought that

He's taking to politics like a duck to water, just spout a load of bullshit rhetoric and you're away. 

[andycv]

This reply from the Mayor suggests that there are major plans in development for Villa Park and the surrounding area?

[Captain_Townsend]

2 minutes ago, andycv said:

This reply from the Mayor suggests that there are major plans in development for Villa Park and the surrounding area?

Indeed but the club strategy the past 10 months has been to downplay any suggestion this is the case  

[andycv]

10 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Indeed but the club strategy the past 10 months has been to downplay any suggestion this is the case  

It might be that the North Stand plan doesn't stand up, and they do something completely different?

[allani]

2 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Indeed but the club strategy the past 10 months has been to downplay any suggestion this is the case  

The last set of Board appointments seemed to contain an awful lot of experience in major construction / infrastructure projects.  Of course that might have been a coincidence given other businesses that NS and WE are involved with.  But they would make even more sense as appointments if Villa or VSports were tapping directly into that experience.  I still think that there is something bubbling away in the background that will make the previous plans seem tiny.  Especially when you take into consideration the fact that Atairos / Comcast are still increasing their stake in the club and they'd be unlikely to be doing that unless they can see some serious upside - it's not worth the risk for a small annual percentage return and I don't see the incentive for NSWE either at face value (neither are struggling for cash).

There could be many good reasons for seemingly downplaying suggestions at this point in time whilst actually having a different strategy in mind.  (Although it could equally be the case that the suggestions are being downplayed because that is the reality).  The only thing that I think is off the cards is moving away from Villa Park to another site - as that's been explicitly denied now a few times.  However, the wording of those comments don't (at least the way I interpretted them) rule out a big redevelopment, rebuild / new stadium either on the existing footprint or close to it.  Neither do they rule out leaving the stadium as is (more of less) and just completing other developments around the ground that mean that the stadium / environs are earning money for more than just the 25-30 days a year when there is a match on.

[Mic09]

Maybe the delay in expansion of rail stations is a sign of a new stadium... @Stevo985

[VillaJ100]

Wen theme park

[VillaChris]

The chaos of Witton Station was also tweeted by Andy Street a year or so ago when he was still Mayor. So either Parker has the same PR team or he's just using AI.

We know the station isn't fit for purpose right on the doorstep of a 40k ground so it certainly would be very dangerous with an extra 10k in the area, some of whom would want to use it.

Did I imagine it or isn't there supposed to be some improvement coming to Witton Station linked to the new academy building? I'm sure a couple of years ago a new walkway and tunnel from academy to VP was included in the plans.

I think that's the only thing you can do, get everyone entering Witton station from when you walk down the road at the junction of Witton/North Stand. Currently it's far too tight with the entrance, the road, bus stop and just people walking back towards Holford and the other estates where they've parked. The 30 minute gap between services coming in from Walsall dosen't help either.

For those who can it's normally logical to walk to Perry Barr really as then you'll comfortably get on the first train that comes in from Walsall/Great Barr heading to town.