Juan Mata Dor, on 16 February 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:
Its vanished how odd !!! this is/was the text anyway. . .
Roman Abramovich presses case for Chelsea football arena at Earls Court
Russian billionaire objects to rival plans to redevelop west London exhibition centre into housing
Roman Abramovich is stepping up his campaign to relocate Chelsea football club to a new 65,000-capacity stadium on the site of the Earls Court exhibition centre in west London.
Agents for the Russian billionaire have lodged objections to alternative plans to turn over part of the 77-acre site to housing, claiming that not to include a stadium would be a missed opportunity.
The housing plans, promoted by current owner Capital and Counties, are due to be approved on Thursday evening by the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
But Chelsea have made a detailed case that the plans should be put on hold and the overall strategy for replacing the historic exhibition venue rewritten to create a new Chelsea-branded enclave that would draw "visitors and media from across the world".
In submissions to the local authority, reported by the commercial property service CoStar news, the club say a new arena could "stitch together" a fragmented area – as they claim the Olympic stadium in east London and Arsenal's Emirates stadium in north London have both done. They also indicate that allowing Abramovich to invest his cash in a stadium and transport improvements on the site would make the overall development plan more viable.
Earls Court will host the Olympics volleyball tournament before being demolished, bringing to an end 73 years in which it has hosted gigs by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Oasis and Madonna. Chelsea are thought to be willing to spend more than £450m on a new arena.
"The provision of a world-class sporting venue attracting visitors and media from across the world to Earl's Court and west Kensington should be clearly included in the [planning] principles and policies," said the club's property adviser, Stuart Robinson of agents CBRE.
"Whilst these activities are different from the shows and exhibitions that have been held in the area, such a world-class sporting facility would build in the legacy of the Earls Court 'brand' in combination with the national and international 'brand' of [Chelsea Football Club]".
The club also held out the possibility that they would help fund major improvements to the area and "ensure that some of the key public transport and other infrastructure are secured and provided early in the regeneration programme so that they are overcome as constraints on regeneration capacity".
The Guardian revealed in November 2010 that Chelsea had reopened talks about moving to the site from their 105-year-old home at Stamford Bridge. At the time, the club chairman, Bruce Buck, said "it's not at the front of our agenda", but the club now appear to be intensifying their interest in the site.
Stamford Bridge only holds 41,000 spectators while Manchester United's Old Trafford has room for 76,000, Manchester City's stadium 48,000 and Arsenal's 60,000, which leaves the west London club facing a deficit in ticket income against their major rivals.
The move could also help Abramovich recoup some of the £800m he has invested in the club, because the site of Chelsea's stadium at Stamford Bridge is in one of London's most exclusive neighbourhoods and could be worth more turned into housing than the cost of moving to Earls Court, according to property industry sources familiar with the negotiations.
Chelsea believe they have the support of London mayor Boris Johnson and said in their submission to planners that he had "recognised the power of sporting events to deliver major regeneration benefits".
A spokesman for Capital and Counties declined to comment on Chelsea's interest. It emerged in November that Chelsea had also appointed a developer to explore the feasibility of building a stadium beside the derelict Battersea power station, which they said was an exercise in keeping their options open.
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