Section 106 Agreement Signed

We are delighted that the Section 106 legal agreement with Bristol City Council has now been signed. This will allow us to press on, and work on the new-look stadium can begin at the end of the current season.

The redevelopment will provide a state-of-the-art stadium for football and rugby supporters as well as delivering a range of benefits for the local community.

A statement released after the signing from the Bristol Rovers board of directors said: "We are very pleased to have this Section 106 agreement signed at last.

"We will now continue to work closely with the council to make sure that we produce the best stadium possible for all fans and for the local community.

"These legal issues are often complex and require careful consideration, but work has continued behind the scenes and we are well on track for a May start."

The Section 106 agreement is a legal part of the planning process that places certain obligations on the developer to provide for the local community. In our case, this includes setting up a residents' parking scheme to operate on match days and a Stadium Monitoring Group to bring together club and surrounding community and others to work together on issues such as transport, parking and anti-social behaviour.

The agreement is a public document and can be found on the City Council website at www.bristol.gov.uk/environmentandplanning.

The terms of the agreement also require the provision of the following:

· supporters' bus services and park and ride facilities on the basis of 'trigger points' in terms of average attendance figures for football and rugby matches
· implementation of the measures in an approved travel plan
· a restriction on car ownership for students living in the accommodation which forms part of the new development
· financial contributions to the SCOOT traffic management system and to the administration and implementation of Traffic Regulation Orders and junction improvements
· an emergency traffic management plan
· arrangements to ensure that the stadium will be ready for use before the student accommodation, the hotel, the office accommodation and other 'enabling development' is open for use
· landscaping and access to an amenity area on land to the south west of the stadium
· a strategy for the commissioning and inclusion of public art as part of the overall scheme

As part of the agreement, a timescale has been set up to make sure all these requirements are delivered. The monitoring group has to be set up before the new stadium becomes operational, but we have proposed to the city council that we should set it up earlier to coincide with the start of construction. This will ensure that information about the construction process can be made available to local people. It will also provide a forum for any queries and concerns about the development to be aired.

Planning Conditions

In addition to the requirements within the Section 106 agreement, the planning permission is subject to over 40 additional planning conditions.

These ensure that the City Council retains control over various aspects of the detailed design and construction of the scheme and the way in which the stadium and some of the additional facilities will operate once the scheme has been completed. The application of such conditions is a normal aspect of any planning application.

The football club will work closely with the local planning authority to ensure it complies with all of the conditions.

The Club's Consultation & Communications Strategy

In October 2005, as the conceptual plans for the stadium regeneration scheme were being announced, the football club published its strategy for consultation on the development. The club's policy within the strategy was that there should be "no surprises" for organisations and people affected by the scheme or with an interest in it. The strategy also set out a series of principles and objectives to be followed.

As the scheme has now progressed we have produced an updated version, although the fundamental principles remain the same. This document is available in hard copy from the club and was published on the club website last week.

Next Steps

During the last year, we have improved several aspects of the design. Most of the changes relate to the internal arrangements of the various facilities within the development but there are also changes to the roof design and the basement at the south end of the ground has been deleted.

The club shop has been moved to the south of the hotel which itself is now contained on the east side of the stadium. It is worth emphasising though that the stadium plans are fundamentally the same as they were last January - it is still an 18,500 all seater stadium; it is still funded by the enabling development, principally the student accommodation; it still has the same number of student bedrooms and hotel rooms and the same amount of commercial floor space.

However, as there is no provision in law for the changes that have been made to be agreed outside the planning process they have now been referred formally to the City Council. The council is legally obliged to consult local residents and statutory bodies and so the football club has arranged an exhibition of the changes to enable our neighbours and fans to see and understand them and to be able to give an informed response to the council if they wish to do so. Details of who to write to will be announced shortly.

The exhibition will be held in the main bar in the Clubhouse and Filton Avenue end of the stadium on Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th January from 6:30pm until 8:00pm. Anyone who wishes to see the changes that have been made are very welcome to visit on either of those evenings.