I have no problem with FCUM, as a football club, having a ground in Moston. However, there are better sites for it that (a) don't require greenland to be built on (b) has better commercial infrastructure to support the build (c) has better parking facilities (d) will not look out of place with a football ground being built there.
There may well be better sites, indeed Broughton Park and Wythenshawe Park were also considered, but in their wisdom, the council have decreed Moston is the best solution to FCUM and the community of Moston's needs.
a) As a greenland site, Ronald Johnson was due to be developed long before the FCUM plan was adopted, if it wasn't us there, it would be someone or something else.
b) I have no doubt better commercial infastructure would be available, but neither we or the council have the sort of funds available to access land of that price.
c)The plans for TAL were minded as to a good parking provision, and I'm sure the Moston project will be no different. Public transport provision appears to be pretty good (better than the yomp from Bury metro to Gigg anyway).
d) As for the ground looking out of place, I'll stick my neck out and say that the plans are sympathetic to the environment, you're not going to be laden with, for example, a behemoth on the scale of the riverside or the Darlington Arena. The Tameside Stadium would probably be closer to the mark.
Have you seen the site where it is supposedly going to be? Ypu will see that unless they clear the whole of the park, which is a vast area, there won't be enough room to build the ground, parking, food outlets, shops etc.
I'll be honest, no, I haven't, I only found out yesterday. I'll be having a drive up there at the weekend. From what I know, the ground isn't likely to consist of any external food outlets or shops. The area is bigger than what we were afforded for TAL, so if you use that as a rule of thumb, you'll work out the kind of scale we're working to, in short, a fairly small area. The mooted description of 'three playing fields' should be more than enough.
Regarding the planning permission, if the council has given it's backing to the project then there's no way that it will be denied, even if every single resident was against it.
Not necessarily so, but i understand your point.
Do you know why the council deemed the Ten Acres site to be financially unviable? There is far more surrounding area around that site to support the build than there is in Moston.
There's been lots of rumour and the exact reasoning, beyond 'the cuts' hasn't been made clear, however the site has been earmarked for development, and this may form part of an 'Olympic Corridor' and in particular, a home for the British Tae Kwon Do Association. Like I say, this is merely conjecture at this stage. We had our hearts set on this site, ground names, where we were going to stand, even the shape of the bar... still, what will be will be. The truth will out.
I'm sure local residents of Moston would be happy just to have the grass mowed every couple of weeks and the money earmarked to develop the site be given to FCUM to move to the Ten Acres site.
What you can be sure of is the club involving the residents every step of the way. It's as much for them as it is for us. Really. You may find that hard to believe, but have a look at our previous community work, even in Moston, and you'll see the good work that's been going on. The site will be there for everyone, community use, kids teams, youth teams, youth clubs, OAP's etc etc. Without that commitment there is no way the council would have got involved with us.