Over the past two-years Gillingham Football Club has been working on a site called Temple Marsh at Cuxton, which was the site identified by a feasibility study conducted in June 2001 by an independent firm, commissioned by the Football Club and Medway Council to determine any appropriate sites within Medway that may be capable of achieving a sustainable arena.
The Club determined that any new site was to provide the opportunity for a concept, which would include an All-purpose Arena, Community Facilities, Hotel, Entertainment Center, Casino, other leisure facilities, training and five-a-side pitches, residential dwellings, Primary School and Nursery.
In February 2004. Members of the Council agreed to give the club until 30th June 2004 to prove the feasibility of the Temple Marsh site. The study was concluded and presented to the leader of the Council on the 29th June. The feasibility study was conducted by St Modwen plc who are a substantial development company in the UK responsible for developing many sites including the Britannia Stadium at Stoke and re-generation areas. They are a very experienced company who called upon their engineering consultants the Halcrow Group to assist them to complete the study.
The study concluded that from a financial perspective the village scheme proposed at Temple Marsh worked and was very successful. However the Club did have problems in two areas.
- The first problem was that there are three landowners currently on that site. It was apparent that none of the landowners were very enthusiastic about the scheme with two of the landowners having their own proposals for redevelopment and the Council (the third landowner) having a fairly independent view on it.
The second problem, and probably more fundamentally was that the feasibility study was unable to make the transport issue succeed with the access onto and off the site being very poor. The amount of investment required to improve the road structure around Temple Marsh would be significant and the problems that the new site would cause in terms of congestion and parking make the site unworkable.
It was therefore concluded that Temple Marsh failed on the basis of transportation. The issue of the unenthusiastic landowners was possibly capable of address over a period of time. To have a successful and sustainable arena you have to have good positioning and excellent access via road and rail systems.
Over the past few months the Club has expanded it’s search area to an area within a 10-mile radius of Priestfield Stadium. That search will now be intensified. Meetings have been held with other authorities and other sites will be investigated.
The Club’s community work with the people of Medway will continue and indeed is in the process of being expanded. These initiatives will continue irrespective of where the Club’s home is finally located.
The Chairman remains committed to taking Gillingham Football Club to levels never previously achieved in the Club’s 111 year history. In football terms that can only be realised by achieving Premier League status. The supporters of Gillingham Football Club, the people of Medway and indeed the people of Kent are entitled to the opportunity of enjoying such success.
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