November 2009 Update - Little Change

Over the past four months HorfieldROSE has continued to communicate with our own members, the Council, Councillors, and other organisations over various aspects of the development to ensure that should a start with the development be made we will be in a position to react accordingly.

The principle aim is to stop the Commercial, Residential and Stadium development at the Memorial ground as the site is totally unsuitable for the scale and changes planned, and the surrounding residential areas can't absorb the impacts.

Our objection is not to the sporting activities on the site, but to the non-sporting enabling development and the inability of the surrounding area infrastructure to support a vastly increased stadium capacity.

Permission has recently been granted for the Southmead "super hospital" which will inevitably increase the amount of general traffic in the area. This will also mean more ambulances passing through the area which may well be hindered by congested streets. The County Cricket ground application if approved will also have an impact on the area around the Memorial Ground. While HorfieldROSE does not take a view on these other applications, we do note that these other projects further impact issues such as congestion and pollution around the Memorial Ground.

In May 2009 HorfieldROSE and other local residents thought, as did some supporters of the football club, that a start to the development had been made with the clearance of the trees, etc. from the land to the south of the stadium. Residents reacted strongly against the work and a complaint has been made to the Council as the work was carried out without the conditions relating to landscaping being approved, and certainly not in the spirit of consultation and cooperation as promoted by the Stadium Company.

However, since May very little appears to have progressed. We believe a delay was caused in July 2009 due to one of the developers' agents contracting swine flu, and we trust he/she recovered quickly from the illness. We also believe another company has been requested by the stadium company to look into options for the stadium site.

We also continue to watch progress with the traffic orders in Bishopston and Horfield, and hopefully we will see an improvement to traffic flow, and for ambulances, etc. being able to travel through the area without undue delay on match days.

On behalf of all our members we will continue to monitor the situation and if there is any change we will let members know in the usual way.