Can you summarise for those of us who couldnt attend.

Number of attendees?
Board members present?
Who answered the questions?

What facts came out from the meeting?

The meeting was attended by upwards of 50/60 fans approx, the questions were asked by a lot of people, the whole of the board as far as i could see where present, there was a lot of good questions asked, most were answered by Steve & Derek, and Stuart gave his thoughts on the ground issue, out of the meeting as a whole i would say a lot of decent things came, the people present were shown a video of the ground plans at the site the layout of the proposed dressing room area and in the video it showed the proposed all weather facility.

Overall impressions (my) are that it is going to be a very tight budgetary squeeze looking at the video, £200k doesn't get us much this day and age, but i have a feeling it will get done so the club can move forward, i asked the question on the OS as i forgot whilst there, who was building the project?, Steve has replied saying it hasn't been decided yet, it will be going out to tender, i presume he means through the HBC, not sure.

P.S..... It was also nice to see Alan Jones in the room after his spell of illness.

Hope that answers your question, but at long last there is a likelihood the Linnets are getting back to Runcorn, fingers crossed,its down to everyone to try and make it work.

last night meeting was great ground looked good the only disppointing thing was the kitchen was actually in the ground round the pitch . It is the club house which be about 70 yds away for the actual pitch side . Behonets in the wheather we need it in the ground pitch side as people wanna watch the match why waiting to get hot drink .

Does the ground have access for away fans, room for emergency services (Ambulances/St Johns) to access? I cant see any turnstiles on the plans, are there seperate entrances and segregation with adequate access footpaths?
Will the all weather pitch have a full size fence round it?

What was the full jist of the meeting and the questions?
All looks a bit basic to be honest.

How realistic is the ground being ready by the start of next season?
Maybe it might be worth setting a date of January 2011, that way if its ready earlier its positive PR. The worst thing that could happen, is set a date for the start of the season and the ground fail to be ready.
Often, when site work gets underway hidden problems are found, weather can also impact on a stadium being ready as well.

weather....fuck me they are building the football equivalent of a conservatory.

...so any deadline is already known about.

No FA approval no season back in Runcorn.

I think the spring is reasonable, given the FA will hold the club to it.

the turnlites was at the top near the gate. regarding the emerengcy exits , I am sure there be . The deadline got be the 31st march 2010 with abit leeway if got me for the league and fa to press it

Listening to what was being said regarding timescales, not that the board will have much say over the building times, thats in the lap of the gods, and we must just hope it gets done on time, we are in July nearly now, so before end of March 2010 will be here before we know it, what is the timescale on getting planning permission and getting it through the council, what is the timescale on getting 3 tenders needed for the building work on the ground, how long will that take, going through the process of HBC mmetings, we need to get our skates on, it will be christmas before we know it, and only a few months left till the deadline, the leeway mentioned will surely have to come into operation to have the facilty ready and going for August 2010, surely the pitch will not just be marked out and a fence put around it, that will take a while to bed in, obviously due to the costings here we will not be laying a new pitch, so re-seeding will be needed as the pitch area up there, although it might look ok on the eye, it will need to be brought up to the required standard of the league, especially for the safety of the players.....

Glyn,

From experience at Town, planning permission will probably take a month or so to get. You have to have a three week wait after you submit it to allow for any objections that may be put forward by anybody, and then wait for the planning meeting (they meet most weeks though I think). If there are any objections, then it may take slightly longer.

As for the 31st March 2010, this date is set by the Football Association so that they can figure out who the league(s) set up for the following season. All of the facilities have to be all completed by this date, including (to name a few) dressing rooms finished, turnstiles/pay box, perimeter fencing, hard standing around the ground, floodlights up and working, toilets, and a host of other things that most supporters probably dont realise.

I would agree that it is a tight timescale aiming for the 2010/11 season, and I wish you luck.

FALLON

Surely if the board wast confided enough to stated a date like there then surely we will be home next season , I have faith in Stuart white and his team , I have also had faith stuart alone hes done well and kept going even when hit a bad step. I am just greatful that we coming home specialy with this credit crunch going on . Roll on having a pint in are new clubhouse or the arms before the first home game

Having used the main pitch at Halton Sports for numerous years, I can say that the surface is a naturally very hard surface. During periods of heavy rain, this often brings problems with surface water.
The hard surface also means it gets scuffed very easily, with the grass not growing as thick as other pitches.
Some of the other pitches tend to be very heavy and retain water easily, even the pitch on the slope.
Looking forward to see the layout of the whole site and the availability of pitches to existing users.

Cant quite work out what your saying Daz?

If the HBC officials are putting £100k into the project surely the deadline on the project will be met from there experienced people in this area, the Council must have dealt with 100's of these projects in the past, not football grounds granted, but other major projects, and surely they will liase with the football club whilst they are in the process of getting things on the move, or doesn't it work like this...March 2010 will be here before we know it.

The Council might have experience in such areas, but the question begs what their level of interest is and their level of investment.
From other posts on here, it just seems a case of donating some land and giving a donation of £100,000.
The wording in the Weekly News today, suggests that the club will be tennants of the council, as the club are hoping to secure a 20 year lease on the ground. Is this rent free?
Yet, the word on the street (well on here), is that the council expect the club to maintain the site etc, despite the council having the operations and equipment to help with that aspect of the site.
Doesnt quite sound like a partnership with the council, rather a case of the council providing a council house, but council houses get maintained by the council.
A bit more clarity is needed.

Naturally Tufty will continue to raise issues as he obviously
faces the prospect that he may soon have run out of excuses for not
going to games when the club returns ?

What next I wonder ? Maybe the grass won't be green enough ?

What a sad attitude.

Face it, the club is returning home and the club or the council
don't really care what Tufty and every other carper thinks, do they ?

Get a life.
What issues dont you see or is it case of a simple assembly of a stadium and people will flock in their thousands, without any PR or thought on design etc?Is it a childs Mecano kit your constructing or a football ground?
It probably doesnt matter to you about where people go when it rains, as you'll be sat in your directors box seat.

I support the club coming back to Runcorn and will attend some games at the new stadium, yes some games, not everyone. I might even attend some games at Runcorn Town. The key is to having a decent team on the oith that plays good football and can challenge for the league, as North West Counties Football is piss poor.

Dont you want the best you can get or are you another prized tosser who settles for 4th best in your life?

I would like to know what has been achieved?
Nothing has been achieved yet and if thats the attitude people take, then nothing will be achieved.
Its 9 months of hard work now.

We need to embrace peoples ideas and feedback, channel their ideas and experience, not alienate people and dismiss them with content.
Its meant to be a community club with supporter involvement.

Why would people look for an excuse to not attend a game?
Isnt it a matter of choice of the individual?
Its almost as if people dont want extra fans attending, almost wanting to keep the club exclusive to those 100 fans who attend now.
It was the same at Canal Street when anyone from the New Town attended or people with a scouse accent attended, they were made to feel alienated and it resulted in gates always being low. There were far to many biggots on the Canal Street terraces and a lot still attend now, take a walk round Wincham Park on a matchday its evident and from some people who are meant to command respect.
Its a horrible trait that we have as support and as a club.

Progression and transition is needed and we need to embrace people and their ideas in order to achieve that, 6 board members alone will not lead us in that direction.

Goodnight

Planning permission isn't on the HBC website as yet, when this is sorted the process can begin, i would not envisage people objecting in the area of the ground, they will probably be happy for there kids to watch the team on Saturdays as tickets for the Prem teams are hard to come by these days, not too sure about the Brewery running the pub, will they have an objection about us selling things on matchdays from a facility, but i suppose if we have a Licence there isn't a great deal they can do, is this where Thwaites will be coming back into the equation, after all there £40k will come in handy.

Listened with interest to Fallon and Simon Burton talking about Runcorn Town.
When there lights are up does the ground become NWCL standard, sounds if it does.
Why don't Linnets return there while the new ground at Halton Sports is prepared.
Why wait until next season or the season after or the season after or never never.
Where did Town get the funding for the floodlights ?

The two main jobs that we need to do are floodlights and new toilet block. Floodlights should be up soon as I mentioned and toilets will be done as soon as possible. After that we are confident it should be up to NWCL standard, but will need it inspecting by the ground grading people.

As for funding, it has been a case of saving for years!