As part of our commitment to keep supporters informed the team working on the Lionel Road project for Brentford Football Club has provided the following progress report:
New stadium project still on hold
As reported in our previous updates in February and May, the project is still effectively on hold pending a substantial upturn in the housing market.
The Brentford team is continuing to look at the scope of the stadium facilities and the design to see if the cost of meeting the club’s requirements can be reduced.
In collaboration with Barratt Homes Limited, all costs, revenues and economic assumptions continue to be regularly reviewed in the light of the changing market conditions.
Chris Gammon, one of the two executive directors of the club’s Lionel Road team has said: “Although the housing market has stabilised we don’t yet have an economically viable financial model for the overall development. We are however continuing to review various options so that when the economic conditions improve we will be ready with a carefully thought through scheme.”
FIFA World Cup TM 2018 bid
One positive area to report is the inclusion of the planned new Brentford Community Stadium in London’s submission to the FA for the England 2018 World Cup bid.
The stadium has been put forward as a training venue linked to competitive matches that would be played at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium. On 16 December the FA announced that Emirates stadium will be included in England’s bid.
Its now up to the FA to select the training venues that it will include when it submits its Technical bid to FIFA in May 2010. FIFA will announce the selected host nations for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in December 2010.
Brian Burgess, the club’s other executive director in the Lionel Road team commented: “The inclusion of Brentford in the London United bid to the FA shows that our plans for the new stadium have captured the imagination of key people in London. If England is successful it will be a terrific boost to everyone involved.”
Lionel Road Liaison Group Meetings
Since May the regular meetings of the Lionel Road Liaison Group have changed from being monthly to quarterly. The last meeting was held on 14th September and the next is scheduled for 18th January. The agendas and notes of these meetings, which include local stakeholders, can be found on the project website www.brentfordcommunitystadium.com.
Background information
In order to create specific responsibility for this project the Brentford FC Ltd Board has set up a subsidiary company called Brentford FC (Lionel Road) Ltd, which has two shareholders:
Brentford FC Ltd with a 99% interest
Brentford Football Community Society Ltd (Bees United) with 1 ‘golden’ share, giving certain veto rights over the actions of Brentford FC (Lionel Road) Limited. In particular this golden share, which represents 1% of the issued share capital, gives Bees United the right to a veto over any issue or transfer of shares, the disposal of assets over a material level, the use of land for any purpose other than that of a sports stadium, the charging of assets, the implementation of any liquidation proceedings and the payment of any dividends. In addition Bees United have the right to appoint a minimum of one director to the board of Brentford FC (Lionel Road) Limited.
The directors of the company are Greg Dyke (Chairman), Brian Burgess, Chris Gammon (Company Secretary), Mike Power and Donald Kerr.