Football ground faces decay on a high-tech grid

12:14pm Thursday 6th December 2007

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SIMILAR to last year, the joy of getting to the third round of the FA Cup and being in the hat with the big clubs was somewhat diminished when we were paired away to Tranmere Rovers.

It was not the glamour tie we were hoping for but having knocked two League 1 clubs out already, there is nothing to fear in going to Tranmere.

Apart from the small matter of dispatching Hartlepool United, the other issue of the week was the presentation of the plans for the cattle market produced by the three developers vying for the big Edgar Street Grid development contract. To say that their plans will have an impact on the club is an understatement.

I had felt for some time that we would have had a planning application submitted by the turn of the year for at least one end of the ground.

I was optimistic that things were beginning to slot into place.

For months, our partners, the Richardsons, were in discussions with at least one cinema group to incorporate a six-screen cinema at the Blackfriars End.

Although we were not exactly encouraged by our discussions with the people responsible for the future of the Edgar Street Grid, it wasn't until about six weeks ago that we had an emphatic no' from them about our plans.

We were told, through the Richardsons that, along with the cinema, a very large health and fitness group and a couple of hotel groups were very interested in joining us.

You can now imagine our concern when realising that all our options were to be included in the cattle market site.

I realise, of course, that the Edgar Street Grid board and developers are only concerned with maximising their prime site. However what it will do is leave us with few alternatives.

My fear now is that the Richardsons, who have a number of projects on the go throughout Europe, will put the Edgar Street ground redevelopment on the back burner and adopt a wait-and-see attitude. That will leave us in a state of limbo.

Herefordshire Council and the Edgar Street Grid board have been keen to keep the club in its present position because of the attraction of bringing people into the centre, particularly into the retail quarter.

It is now a distinct possibility that the ground will continue to decay right into the midst of a quality development.