New St Helens Stadium
Encyclopedia
Langtree Park is a rugby league stadium in St Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...

. It has a projected capacity of 18,000. It is the home ground of St Helens RLFC, and St Helens Town F.C.
St Helens Town F.C.
St Helens Town A.F.C. are an English football club based in St Helens. The club are currently members of the Premier Division of the North West Counties League and play their home matches at Ashton Town's Edge Green Street.-History:...

. The stadium was granted full planning permission on 20 May 2008. On 11 July 2008 the go-ahead was given without the need for a public enquiry meaning construction could start in 2010. The first rugby league match to be played at the stadium will be between St Helens RLFC and Widnes RLFC on 20th January 2012 with St Helens RLFC moving in time for the 2012 Super League season
Super League XVII
The 2012 Super League season is to be the seventeenth season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996...

. It was announced on 15th November 2011 that primary developers, the Langtree Group, had gained the naming rights and that the stadium would be named Langtree Park.

Proposed plans

The proposed plans come in three parts. The proposed parts are:

1. The transformation of the derelict former United Glass site to create a new 18,000-capacity stadium for St Helens RLFC as well as a 140000 sq ft (13,006.4 m²) Tesco Extra next to the rugby ground. The stadium itself will be a seating and standing arena with an oval shaped roof extending out from the south stand

2. The redevelopment of the existing town centre Tesco store in Chalon Way into alternative high quality retail use, enhancing the retail available in St Helens town centre.

3. The development of the existing St Helens RLFC site at Knowsley Road
Knowsley Road
Knowsley Road was a stadium located in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home of St Helens RLFC from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hosted Liverpool FC Reserves...

 to create high quality residential accommodation, regenerating the local area.

The club has stressed that if one of the three parts fall through, the whole project would be in jeopardy. However on the 20th of May councillors in St Helens gave a resounding thumbs up for the new Saints’ stadium. Members of the Planning Committee endorsed the triple planning application granting permission subject to terms and conditions and a health and safety risk assessment

Reaction

Saints’ chairman Eamonn McManus comments: “This is wonderful news for the Club, its supporters and for the town of St Helens. I sincerely thank all at the Borough Council and MP Dave Watts for their invaluable work and help to date.

“We now look forward to a similar positive outcome from the Government Office for the North West and would urge all to continue with expressions of constructive support for a project so critical to the future of the Club and of the town.”

John Downes, managing director of Langtree says of the decision: “This is fantastic news, and is a vital step forward in our plans to transform the former United Glass site. Langtree is proud to be playing such an integral role in the development of a new stadium and in the regeneration of St Helens town. The planning application is the product of a lot of hard work over the last few years by everyone involved and the result will be a fantastic new development with the new Saints Stadium as its centrepiece.

“Whilst we still need to resolve the future of the Ancient Monument as the Council are requiring us to consolidate and repair it which is not viable for the development to support, the proposals will now go to the Government Office for the North West for their consideration and obviously we hope for a speedy positive result.”

St Helens Council Leader Brian Spencer adds: "The development will bring a range of benefits, not just to our own town but to the region in general, bringing massive investment and jobs. This has been 10 years in the making but I am sure everyone will agree that this will be a first class stadium fit for a world class club.”

David Rolinson, Planning Manager for the project says: “We couldn’t have received better news. We still need to resolve the future of the Ancient Monument, which at the moment the Council require us to enhance, but which is not viable for the scheme to support.

“We have put four years of hard work in order to get this scheme absolutely right and are very concerned about the Ancient Monument issue.

“However, this is an important day as together these developments are set to change the face of St Helens and continue to deliver its urban renaissance.”

Construction

Demolition of the former UGB Glass plant began in late January 2009, with construction due to begin after the clearance of the 46 acres (186,155.6 m²) site had been completed. In July 2010, the building contractor Barr Construction Ltd
Barr Construction Ltd
Barr Construction is a major Scottish contracting organisation operating throughout the United Kingdom.- History :The Company began life at the end of the nineteenth century as a joinery firm known as W & J Barr & Sons and gradually expanded into civil engineering projects...

was selected to build the new stadium.

Construction commenced on 23 August 2010, with the Tesco store due to be completed in October 2011 and the stadium by November 2011.

Capacity

The total capacity of the stadium will be 17,980 with two main standing stands and two seated stands, east stand and a small section of the north stand will be the away supporters allocated stands. north and south stands are all seated and west stand is mainly standing and some seated for the saints fans. the capacity is shown as follows

North stand will have 4,718 seats, none standing and 46 disabled seats.

South stand will have 5,233 seats, none standing and 55 disabled seats.

East stand will have 81 seats, 3,899 standing and 5 disabled seats (this will be mainly for the away fans).

West stand will have 118 seats, 3,796 standing and 29 disabled seats.

Total seats is 10,150. Total standing is 7,695. Total disabled seats are 135. There will be approximately 4,000 places available for away supporters via mainly the east stand and a small section in the north stand whereas Saints fans will get all of the west and south stand and most of the north stand.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK