Fossetts Farm Stadium - History - Planning Application and Setbacks

Planning Application and Setbacks

In September 1999 Southend United announced that plans for a new multi-million pound stadium would be presented to council chiefs within weeks with Chairman John Main confident that the club would be given permission to start construction early in the new millennium. "The council have been very supportive and we hope that the planning application passes through successfully", said Main. "If it does we can look forward to moving into a new state-of-the-art home within the next few years."

Plans for the new 15,000 seater stadium on the Boots & Laces training ground location were put on hold in February 2000 after it was discovered that an ancient 14-acre (57,000 m2) Bronze Age burial ground entered onto the planned site. By March 2000 supporter frustration grew as the club continued to fail to meet promised planning application submission dates. The Southend United Supporters Club Trust (SUSCT) observed that the club was running out of time. "We're no nearer to getting a new home now than we were 12 months ago, which is very worrying because we are running out of time fast," said chairman Trevor Bashford. Members of Southend Council were equally eager to see some progress. In late May 2000 Council Chief Executive George Krawiec threw his weight behind the proposals but admitted that he would like to see some progress made on the planning front. "We await both eagerly and anxiously Southend United's planning application so we can look at it properly within the correct guidelines," said Krawiec.

The plans which were eventually submitted in July 2000 for a £12.5 million 16,000 seater stadium on the Fossets Farm site but the proposal fell through almost immediately after a rival property development company revealed that it actually owned much of the site. All the waiting and anticipation could have been for nothing when Southend United came to the brink to extinction after a £400,000 demand from the Inland Revenue went unpaid. Boardroom turmoil saw chairman John Main removed in return for principal benefactor Delancey Estates settling the debt.

In September 2001 it was claimed that Southend United would remain at Roots Hall after a deal was proposed between property developers Lansbury and Delancey, a joint major share-holder in the football club. There was also a growing support for a residents' group opposed to plans, claimed the local media. The emergence of the KARERS smashed a further dent in the aspirations of the football club, with spokesman Peter Bliss announcing that it wanted to preserve what it saw as a "crucial piece of land" in the borough and prevent traffic congestion every time Southend United play a home match. Southend fans moved to counter the protest with a campaign of their own. "Residents living near Fossetts Farm have gathered around 1,800 signatures against the stadium. But we should be able to beat that figure easily," said the campaign spokesman. "If all the Southend fans club together, including the people who don't always attend games, we should be able to collect around 10,000 names. This development is not just for the benefit of football fans, but for everybody living in Southend."

Good news reached the ears of supporters in mid-December 2000 when Ron Martin announced that he expected the planning application for a new stadium to finally be considered by the town council In February 2001. Speaking to shareholders at the club's AGM, Martin said that the proposal for a 16,000 capacity ground should go before the planning committee on 7 February 2001 and that he was "confident" that both the football club and local authority were on the same wavelength. The relative joy was short-lived. Barely four weeks later local media revealed that there were problems with the content of the plan for a 16,000 all-seater stadium and other leisure facilities on the 80-acre (320,000 m2) site at Eastern Avenue which could cause yet another delay and that, contrary to Martin's claim at the AGM, the plans were never intended to go to committee in February. "We do not consider there is adequate information to put to members," claimed a council spokeswoman. In early March 2001 protesters against the development rallied at the civic centre as the plans were considered by the council's Development Control Committee; the KARERS were countered by a delegation from the club's supporters club trust. "We understand the concerns of local residents but the football club is very important to the local community and economy," said a Trust spokesman. The council decided to defer the decision for a further three months but agreed that a decision had to made by then. "This application has been with us for some time and we must not as a council allow this application to cast a further shadow," said Councillor Roger Weaver (CON). "To prevent this hanging over the council anymore, can we ask that officers come back within three months time with a yea or nay recommendation." As the future of the club looked decidedly shaky, fans set up an action group 'Save Our Southend' to prevent their club from becoming homeless or even extinct. "We want our football team's future to be protected in the borough of Southend," said SOS spokesman Trevor Bashford. Even legendary boss David Webb voiced his concerns for the club: "I'm still very sceptical about what will happen to the club if the stadium doesn't come off." As the club's owners worked furiously to make the required revisions to the plans, their efforts were further excacebated when local traders claimed that the proposed Fossetts Farm development would actually threaten the future of the town centre and seafront. We have no objection to the football stadium development itself. When I was 11 I used to be a ball boy for Southend and I'm a supporter," said John Barber, chairman of Southend Seafront Illuminations and Business Association. "But as far as the objection to the development is concerned we have to object to it because it's not just about the stadium - it's about a total duplication of what we are all about on the seafront."

In June 2001 the club pulled out of the planning meeting which was scheduled to make a decision on the Fossetts Farm proposal, citing that it "needed more time to assess the content of its project". SEL UK, the club's joint owner, later declared that they wanted to sell the club: "The directors are currently seeking to sell the company's interest in Southend United" stated the auditors' report. Ron Martin moved to re-assure that the joint owners of Martin Dawn and Delancey were not about to cut and run: ""The position is quite clear - Martin Dawn and Delancey are only interested in the longevity of Southend United." In August former chairman John Main, ousted after a bitter boardroom struggle in 2000, warned fans that the proposal was not "financially viable" and that "there will be no stadium at Fossetts Farm and the future of the football club remains at Roots Hall."

Finally the inevitable happened. On 26 September 2001 Ron Martin admitted that plans for a new stadium at Fossetts Farm had stalled after Lansbury, the company that owned most of the land earmarked for the stadium at Fossetts Farm announced that it was not prepared to sell the land. "We need to come to some form of agreement with Lansbury before we can make progress because it owns most of Fossetts Farm," admitted Ron Martin. Lansbury responded by claiming that the plans had actually been shelved months prior to the announcement and accused Ron Martin of misleading the fans. "Until now we have remained publicly silent but Mr Martin's continual misrepresentation of what is happening must be commented upon," said a spokesman. He then went on to claim that the future of Southend United lay at Roots Hall, not Fossetts Farm "which has been the case since last May." Ron Martin counteracted with a short statement: "All I can say is that this simply isn't true."

In January 2002 Ron Martin vowed to reveal fresh plans for a new stadium for Southend United and revealed that informal talks had started with Southend Council to find a site for the club. "We hope we will be able to make a statement on the situation within a few weeks," he told local media. A day later Lansbury revealed ambitious plans to create 250 jobs at a B&Q warehouse development on Fossetts Farm: "We have put forward a detailed planning application for a new B and Q warehouse," said a spokesman. "The proposal is for land to the front of Fossetts Farm which recently received retail planning consent on appeal to the Environment Secretary." A couple of weeks later, local media speculated that a new home for the football club could be built close to the Tesco superstore in Prince Avenue. Continued warnings that Southend United needed to secure a new home to survive continued just a few days later when co-owner Martin claimed that such a move is the key to the club's future after new figures showed that while losses made by the club had been slashed, a large amount of those losses were taken by rent paid on the Roots Hall ground.

In July 2002 it was claimed that the stadium proposal of Fossetts Farm was unlikely to go ahead if Southend Council backed plans for a new B&Q superstore on the site. Martin claimed that approval for the plans, submitted by Lansbury, would make it impractical to accommodate a new stadium for the football club. "After the council has made a decision on B&Q's application, then we may well be in a position to say more," he told local media. Silence descended once more but with Southend's lease on Roots Hall due to end in March 2003, fans were rightfully concerned over the immediate future of the football club at Roots Hall. Eventually the club were forced to make a statement with Ron Martin claiming that the lease will be extended. "The lease runs out in four months time, but I have no doubt in my mind it will be extended," he told local media in late November 2002. "A lot of negativity has accompanied the length of the lease over the past three years, but as usual it has been unfounded. We are still actively working to move to a new ground and Southend United will never be homeless."

In December 2002 the local media revealed that councillors had suggested that a new £56 million hospital unit could be built on the Fossetts Farm site although vice-chairman Geoffrey King poured scorn on the idea. "I can't get excited by this news," he told the press. "I can't see it happening." Just a few hours later Ron Martin confirmed that Southend United would remain at Roots Hall for another three years after the club signed an extension to the lease which was to expire in March 2003. He also announced that plans to re-locate to Fossetts Farm were back on track after a deal had been struck with Lansbury, who owned 80% of the site, a deal that appeared to include the construction of a massive B&Q warehouse on the site after all. "This is outstanding news for the football club and gives Southend United the chance to look forward to a bright future."

On 12 December 2002 councillors sitting on Southend Council's Development Control Committee threw overwhelming support behind the proposed B&Q development, voting 12/2 in favour, and future of Southend United looked a little more brighter, although the proposals would have to go before Deputy PM John Prescott because of its status as an 'out-of-town development'. On 6 November 2003 Southend Hospital revealed that it had indeed chosen Fossetts Farm as the site for a proposed £100 million expansion of services; Southend United claimed that the proposal would not affect their plans. On 3 May 2004 Ron Martin claimed it was "all systems go" for the new stadium after the positive income of the B&Q Fossetts Farm inquiry and expected plans for a new stadium complex to be submitted during the summer of 2004. "We're delighted," said Martin. "It's a massive boost for us and I feel this new stadium complex will bring further success to Southend United."

However nothing much happened until November 2004 when it was revealed that 20 acres (81,000 m2) of land north of the Boots & Laces training ground and close to the Fossetts Farm area had been secured. "I don't want people to think we are standing still on this," claimed Martin.

But it was a familiar story to fans when they picked up copies of the local media one evening in September 2005. "Stadium Plan in Limbo," was the headline with joint shareholder Colin Wagman of Delancey claiming that ""I think very difficult to commercially achieve and I don't think it's the most likely scenario." Ron Martin confirmed that hopes of leaving Roots Hall for a new site at Fossetts Farm had stagnated. However a couple of months later Martin revealed that he was looking to take complete control of Southend United, a move that would help him push ahead with his dream of a new stadium on Fossetts Farm.