I have netted a slot on Monday to address the Southend Development and Control Committee who will be discussing the plan for a new 21000 seat stadium. I will be opposing the plan.
The current owner, Ron Martin, took complete control of the club in March 2006. Later that year, Southend had a decent league cup run, beating Bournemouth, Brighton, Leeds United, Manchester United and being knocked out 1 - 0 by Tottenham after extra time. They also beat Sunderland 3 - 1 in the league (I was there with My Mate Terry Who Art In Sibton) on 19th August, but after that went into a steady decline: Sunderland won the Championship and Southend were relegated to League 1. That decline has continued for 15 years to the extent that Southend are now in serious danger of being relegated yet again to the National League South. There are no footballing reasons for a new stadium.
My main arguments will be environmental: the new stadium is a long way from any housing and railway stations, and people will expect to drive there. That raises another problem: the current stadium is west of the railway, a man-made barrier with limited crossing places that always present traffic problems. The new stadium would be to the east. If at any point Southend ever did attract 21000 supporters to a home match, then the single carriageway road which is the most used route from west to east would be subject to several thousand more cars in the couple of hours before the match was due to start. This single carriageway road is Priory Crescent, the very same road that Southend Council wanted to make dual carriageway 20 years ago and failed in their attempt. "Camp Bling" and the discovery of the
Saxon King's remains were all part and parcel of that road scheme. It's a totally bonkers idea.
Then there's the more general environmental stuff: climate change, green belt building and localised air pollution.
Interesting times.
