A quick update for everyone as to the meeting on Monday night. Approx 10 attended and it was a very informal discussion as to how we can support the club with the aid of the stadium fund. Again, I would like to reiterate that this is an informal discussion and therefore no minutes were produced.

Key readouts were as follows

- It is important that the Club are informed and understand the purpose of the group. As yet, no trust has been established and there are further discussions to be had before we are in that space.The stadium trust fund would be in support of , but not under the control, of the Club. However, a "dotted line" to the Club would maintain a link and updates as to the progress of the fund. Having discussed various options, in terms of whether the trust could be varied in any way it was agreed that the trust fund should be used for a stadium only and not to support retaining players or to be an emergency fund to bail the Club out financially should it fall into difficulty. The discussion group is looking for someone within the group to establish contact with the Club to have informal discussions as to our goal and hopefully attend further discussions.

- A further discussion took place regarding grants/revenue streams from various groups such as the FAW and EFL. This is quite a complex area and will require further research.

- The next meeting will look at the various stadium schemes (Wimbledon, Boston, FC United) and what was achieved and how they achieved it.

- The group is establishing "bubbles" of expertise - at the moment we have legal and finance bubbles and it was agreed that a communication bubble would be beneficial to liaise with the Club and third parties.

The next meeting is scheduled for 27 July @ 8pm for those of you who could make it. If you want to PM for further details then please feel free to do so.

Who on earth is investing £12 million on the redevelopment of Newport Market?
Should the club be talking to them about buying RP and building a new market and facilities on the spare land .?——-probably get it for less than £3 million from WRU , who must be desperate to unload it .
£12 million would get you a lot of land and buildings ( and an all brand new modern market place ) plus a nice rent from Football ——and maybe a “lease to buy deal “ with the County who would then eventually own the ground .

Pirates wrote:Who on earth is investing £12 million on the redevelopment of Newport Market?
Should the club be talking to them about buying RP and building a new market and facilities on the spare land .?——-probably get it for less than £3 million from WRU , who must be desperate to unload it .
£12 million would get you a lot of land and buildings ( and an all brand new modern market place ) plus a nice rent from Football ——and maybe a “lease to buy deal “ with the County who would then eventually own the ground .

The guy's name is Simon Baston and his company is LoftCo. He redeveloped Tramshed in Cardiff, the Jennings Building in Porthcawl, and the Pumphouse in Barry. Having met the guy, his interest is in breathing new life into historic buildings. £9m of the £12m cost is a council loan. He has zero interest in football or sports stadiums. I asked him.

Some interesting tidbits from today’s Argus by the Dragons’ reporter:

“ The plan is for a consortium to take over the Dragons and for the region to play at Rodney Parade on a long-term lease.

The north end of the nine-acre site will be retained and developed by the WRU with funds distributed between all the professional sides and revenue from the stadium area kept by the Dragons.”

“ Going private will put the pressure on the Dragons to deliver financially, commercially and on the field.”

I find it highly unlikely that a decent backer will come in for the Dragons that can afford the stadium lease independently, so what are the chances we’d be able to chip in on a joint lease and have equal stake in using the ground?

Assume "all the professional sides" means the four regions? Or all WRU members who pay players?

George Street-Bridge wrote:Assume "all the professional sides" means the four regions? Or all WRU members who pay players?

Sorry, should have linked to the article:

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport ... et-credit/

Yes, the four pro rugby teams

100 year lease on RP suggested for the Dragons.

Pirates wrote:Who on earth is investing £12 million on the redevelopment of Newport Market?
Should the club be talking to them about buying RP and building a new market and facilities on the spare land .?——-probably get it for less than £3 million from WRU , who must be desperate to unload it .
£12 million would get you a lot of land and buildings ( and an all brand new modern market place ) plus a nice rent from Football ——and maybe a “lease to buy deal “ with the County who would then eventually own the ground .

It puts to rest one often cited argument. That being that the local authority don't have the cash to spend in these difficult times.

Assuming that the oft quoted figure is correct a £9million loan would build a 9,000 all seater stadium. If that money is available for a renovated market, why not for the sporting public of Newport?

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

Pirates wrote:Who on earth is investing £12 million on the redevelopment of Newport Market?
Should the club be talking to them about buying RP and building a new market and facilities on the spare land .?——-probably get it for less than £3 million from WRU , who must be desperate to unload it .
£12 million would get you a lot of land and buildings ( and an all brand new modern market place ) plus a nice rent from Football ——and maybe a “lease to buy deal “ with the County who would then eventually own the ground .

It puts to rest one often cited argument. That being that the local authority don't have the cash to spend in these difficult times.

Assuming that the oft quoted figure is correct a £9million loan would build a 9,000 all seater stadium. If that money is available for a renovated market, why not for the sporting public of Newport?

If the idea in the market investment is to incubate local businesses, then you could easily make the same argument about sports grounds. How many independent cafes have popped up around Rodney Parade since County started playing there? How many of them would be screwed if we disappeared?

halfmoon wrote: If the idea in the market investment is to incubate local businesses, then you could easily make the same argument about sports grounds. How many independent cafes have popped up around Rodney Parade since County started playing there? How many of them would be screwed if we disappeared?

And why not have a market in the stadium on non-match days?
Move the Art Gallery, Museum and Library there too and sell the prime land in John Frost Square.

I think the market purchase is simply a residential property transaction - not really bothered about the actual market, when that fails the whole place can be redeveloped as a residential building. Funny how there is no planned parking, at all, for the residential and commercial units.

halfmoon wrote:

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

Pirates wrote:Who on earth is investing £12 million on the redevelopment of Newport Market?
Should the club be talking to them about buying RP and building a new market and facilities on the spare land .?——-probably get it for less than £3 million from WRU , who must be desperate to unload it .
£12 million would get you a lot of land and buildings ( and an all brand new modern market place ) plus a nice rent from Football ——and maybe a “lease to buy deal “ with the County who would then eventually own the ground .

It puts to rest one often cited argument. That being that the local authority don't have the cash to spend in these difficult times.

Assuming that the oft quoted figure is correct a £9million loan would build a 9,000 all seater stadium. If that money is available for a renovated market, why not for the sporting public of Newport?

If the idea in the market investment is to incubate local businesses, then you could easily make the same argument about sports grounds. How many independent cafes have popped up around Rodney Parade since County started playing there? How many of them would be screwed if we disappeared?

Absolutely right.

halfmoon wrote:Some interesting tidbits from today’s Argus by the Dragons’ reporter:

“ The plan is for a consortium to take over the Dragons and for the region to play at Rodney Parade on a long-term lease.

The north end of the nine-acre site will be retained and developed by the WRU with funds distributed between all the professional sides and revenue from the stadium area kept by the Dragons.”

“ Going private will put the pressure on the Dragons to deliver financially, commercially and on the field.”

I find it highly unlikely that a decent backer will come in for the Dragons that can afford the stadium lease independently, so what are the chances we’d be able to chip in on a joint lease and have equal stake in using the ground?

Massively old news. All this was announced by David Buttress last year but has been delayed by Covid. Story here from April: https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/spor ... ronavirus/

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

Pirates wrote:Who on earth is investing £12 million on the redevelopment of Newport Market?
Should the club be talking to them about buying RP and building a new market and facilities on the spare land .?——-probably get it for less than £3 million from WRU , who must be desperate to unload it .
£12 million would get you a lot of land and buildings ( and an all brand new modern market place ) plus a nice rent from Football ——and maybe a “lease to buy deal “ with the County who would then eventually own the ground .

It puts to rest one often cited argument. That being that the local authority don't have the cash to spend in these difficult times.

Assuming that the oft quoted figure is correct a £9million loan would build a 9,000 all seater stadium. If that money is available for a renovated market, why not for the sporting public of Newport?

Not quite. Deal & loan for market was agreed in July 2018, long before the current crisis. It's all a bit different now. £173m deficit for Welsh councils as of May. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-52791804
It'll be worse by now. English councils have a £5bn funding shortfall. No-one should underestimate the economic disaster about to engulf the UK. 12,000 job losses announced yesterday alone. As furlough changes from next month, that'll turn into millions. Latest prediction is 40% of people on furlough will be made redundant. 9.3 million people are on furlough. Time to get real.

That's a generic 'time to get real', by the way, not aimed at any individuals!

Construction is one of the main ways of getting the UK back on a firm footing (pardon the pun) following COVID-19.