My apology for not writing my blog sooner as intended. Life has been hectic for a long time but the past few months more so which is almost entirely due to the arrangements surrounding the new stadium project. At present I guess it is a bit of a race against time as I want to deliver the stated programme.
The meeting of Full Council on 23rd April 2009 approving the sale of their assets had taken a number of months to negotiate terms but was the trigger for real progress. Southend Borough Council's further resolution to use CPO powers (Compulsory Purchase Order) to help facilitate the Club's plans and regeneration of the Roots Hall site was, I believe, also important. The last thing we now need is owners seeking to hold the Club to ransom.
We have already stated publicly that we will pay 20% over the market value of the properties we need to buy and, of course, we can provide time for the vendors to find suitable alternative accommodation. In some instances we are able to provide an "exchange" as we are building some private flats and shops also. All the Council tenants from St Mary's Court (the blocks that front Victoria Avenue) are being re-housed in a new, separate building - so I feel their accommodation and environment will improve significantly, with no disruption.
In many respects this is a win-win situation and whilst the majority of residents have already agreed terms there appear to be one or two individuals who may just give us a hard time - hopefully they will not delay our plans further.
In tandem with this I have needed to achieve a substantial level of pre-letting of the retail park adjacent to the stadium to meet obligations under the second phase funding. Both Sainsbury's at Roots Hall and the retail park are key financial drivers. The pre-letting has gone very well over the past months with some 71% of the units now in solicitors' hands.
The other phase with which I have been engaged is the tender processes for each of the elements; stadium, replacement St Mary's Court, retail park and now the Sainsbury's store itself. The food store was not originally for us to build, as we had agreed to just sell the site, once the Club had moved, but following further discussions with Sainsbury's this proposal is now firmly on the agenda and as a direct result of the economy.
So you can begin to perhaps understand why my time has been under pressure but which should ease just as soon as we are on site. In the meantime I will come in on Sundays to move things forward - including this blog!
The blog is a helpful medium in keeping you, our customers, informed and particularly upon issues of policy, strategy, finances and ambition - all of which guide our thinking and actions. We will not always get it right but at least it helps understanding and are able to present the decisions and facts in a balanced way.
(Taken from Ron Martins's Blog, Sunday June 14, 2009.)