Interesting campaign

[Snake]

Interestingly, one of the quangos due to be abolished in the list announced today is the Football Licensing Authority.

Not sure whether that will make it easier or not for the terracing issue to be reconsidered, but it may create an opening for the debate to be raised again.

I refer the Honourable Poster to my previous contribution on this matter, and suggest that regulations concerning crowd safety at any football game at Minchery Farm be given over to our Local Authority in line with current Tory thinking about devolved and local decision making. This is because OCC and OCC (and their joint contacts) surely know more than the FLA does about what happens locally, and when the West Stand gets built I hope it will be a “safe standing area

[Joey's Toe]

I refer the Honourable Poster to my previous contribution on this matter, and suggest that regulations concerning crowd safety at any football game at Minchery Farm be given over to our Local Authority in line with current Tory thinking about devolved and local decision making.

Yes, but when Tories talk about decentralisation, they never mean actually devolving power to local councils - that might mean that people from other parties who are locally accountable might make decisions! Perish the thought!

[Snake]

I refer the Honourable Poster to my previous contribution on this matter, and suggest that regulations concerning crowd safety at any football game at Minchery Farm be given over to our Local Authority in line with current Tory thinking about devolved and local decision making.

Yes, but when Tories talk about decentralisation, they never mean actually devolving power to local councils - that might mean that people from other parties who are locally accountable might make decisions! Perish the thought!

Well in this case they simply don't know what will replace the FLA

http://www.alisonmcgovern.org.uk/blog/f ... authority/

[womble]

maybe i can find out more about this at the safety advisory group meeting this afternoon

[Snake]

Thanks, womble. Also, could you please post up a link to the minutes of these meetings from the County Council website?

Meanwhile I've asked the FLA nicely wtf is going on...

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a ... nd_safe_st

[Long John Silver]

What worries me most - and you make this point as well - is that this policy has acquired a sort of path dependency. It was set up for all the wrong reasons, but is now so entrenched in so many people's thinking that the inappropriateness of the policy is irrelevant: it is what it is and there is no going back.

This is utter bollocks, of course, but where are the football authorities going to get some cojones from to stand up and say the policy and thus also Thatcher were wrong.

It seems as if the Scottish authorities might be a bit more willing at present than those south of the border, and the recent campaign up there looks to be building momentum.

Taken from an Aberdeen website

29 Sep 2010 - Neil Doncaster the SPL chief executive recently stated that he was &quotopen-minded&quot to having safe-standing areas in SPL stadiums.

ARTICLE
Doncaster is midway through a strategic review of all aspects of the Scottish game, with his wide-ranging proposals set to be put to the 12 SPL clubs before the end of the year.

The move to all-seater stadia arose as a result of recommendations made in the Taylor Report, published as a result of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 when 96 people lost their lives, and was implemented in the Premier League in Scotland by August 1994 and adopted by the SPL following its inception in 1998.

There has been a growing movement seeking the reintroduction of designated standing areas inside Scottish stadia, in the belief that a return to terracing would help to improve the often sterile atmosphere at matches.

Doncaster warned that it may prove difficult to implement, but vowed to consider everything as he looks to find ways to improve the overall matchday experience for supporters attending SPL games.

“I’m open-minded about it,

[ConcreteBob]

Standing will never, ever happen.

It's all a pipe dream that some just won't except won't happen.

[Kernow Yellow]

Standing will never, ever happen.

It's all a pipe dream that some just won't except won't happen.

Eh? Standing does happen. It has already happened at several OUFC games this season. And in a few months we'll be playing in a BRAND NEW ground with several terraced areas.

I don't see that it is a massive leap of imagination from League 2 Morecambe building new standing areas to Championship Scunthorpe being allowed to keep theirs. Fulham had terraces in the Premier League not all that long ago. Whether it ever happens again at the very top of the game in this country is doubtful, I'd agree, but since we're unlikely to be able to count ourselves in that bracket for a while, I don't see why we can't hope for a terrace at the unbuilt end of our League 2 ground in due course.

[ConcreteBob]

Sorry, I meant to say terracing. My bad.

[Long John Silver]

Sorry, I meant to say terracing. My bad.

As previously said, League Two Morecambe have just built a new ground that includes terracing, so not sure what you are saying.

At present if a club below Championship level wants to build and use a terrace then they can, so not much of a leap for that to include the championship too - especially as no Law has to be changed for it to happen.

[Snake]

Sorry, I meant to say terracing. My bad.

You’re not “bad

[boris]

I think one of the problems is that with all-seater grounds (except those lucky enough to have space for another stand, ahem) the cost of converting seating to terracing is likely to be considered prohibitive by the clubs, especially as safe terracing is unlikely to add much to the ground capacity, and the general perception is that terracing would have to be sold at a cheaper price than seating accommodation. Building a new ground or (in our case) a new stand with safe terracing should be both do-able and encouraged, but I can't see a situation where clubs would willingly convert a current seated stand to terracing, and I would tend to agree with those who argue that standing in a seated area is not as safe as standing on terracing.

[Kernow Yellow]

Sorry, I meant to say terracing. My bad.

There's terracing in many grounds in our division and the division above, including (as previously stated) at least one brand new ground. So I don't get your point at all. Where are you saying that terracing will 'never, ever happen'? If you mean at the Kass, then you may be right, but I hope you're not.

[ConcreteBob]

Sorry, I meant to say terracing. My bad.

There's terracing in many grounds in our division and the division above, including (as previously stated) at least one brand new ground. So I don't get your point at all. Where are you saying that terracing will 'never, ever happen'? If you mean at the Kass, then you may be right, but I hope you're not.

Well we have ambitions to go higher than League One surely? Well, you'd hope so. Without going bust of course.

[Snake]

Thanks, womble. Also, could you please post up a link to the minutes of these meetings from the County Council website?

Meanwhile I've asked the FLA nicely wtf is going on...

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a ... nd_safe_st

The FLA have now responded to my request so the link above has been updated