Statement on Chelsea FC

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Council statement on Chelsea FC

Tuesday November 1, 2011

An H&F Council spokesman said: "Hammersmith & Fulham Council is proud that our Borough uniquely contains three Premiership football clubs; Chelsea FC, Fulham FC and Queens Park Rangers FC.

In light of the recent decision by Chelsea Pitch Owners PLC to retain its freehold of the ground, we reaffirm our desire to see Chelsea FC remain in the Borough and our commitment to help the club to remain at its historic home of Stamford Bridge.

We recognise that all our clubs will need greater capacity to accommodate growth in their fan bases and that new financial fair play rules necessitate generating extra match-day revenue to remain competitive with the leading English and European teams.

We are currently assisting Fulham FC with its plans to expand the capacity of its historic ground at Craven Cottage and we have already agreed to grant planning permission for additional capacity.  A new scheme is about to be consulted on.

The Council now proposes to examine whether there are planning options to expand Stamford Bridge to accommodate a larger capacity, recognising that such a project must be economically viable, benefit local businesses and not unreasonably affect residents.

We look forward to working closely with Chelsea FC and all local stakeholders as soon as possible to examine the options of redeveloping Stamford Bridge."

» Send us your comments now

To the Concerned Citizen, 1st get your facts straight! Chelsea FC are NOT moving to Battersea or anywhere else for that matter. The Chelsea Football Pitch owners have the say if Chelsea are to move out and they just voted for not to sell the pitch rights and Chelsea FC name to Roman Abramavich, so even if Roman wanted to move he couldn't with out buying the shares from the pitch owners and now that the council has even suggested that they would allow the expansion of Stamford Bridge its more evident that if the right plans were put forward it would go ahead!!.... so MR CONCERNED CITIZEN is going to have to be concerned for a good few decades yet. CFC will stay at its historical birth place Stamford Bridge !! ...
From ChelseRudeBoy on 17/01/2012 at 20:48
One thing that the Council need to turn their attention to is the parking around Stamford Bridge and how fans take over the parking spaces, leaving nowhere for residents park if they are returning home at match times. As a homeowner and resident in Parsons Green I am subjected to fans taking up every available parking space making it every exceptionally hard to find somewhere to park when I return from work on a weeknight, and if I want to go out at the weekend when a match is on I may as well not bother as there will be no parking spaces left when I return. Residents around Fulham FC have a special dispensation which bars visitors from parking in certain neighbouring streets on matchdays, or only parking for a short time unless they have a visitor permit. This therefore preserves any spaces for residents - as they are surely intended for them. Why can this not be introduced in Parsons Green and other areas that are frequented by fans' cars?
From Fulham Resident on 16/12/2011 at 11:27
To the thoughtful responders, it is what I would expect from Chelsea supporters. Nothing less. You will still be irritated, I am sure, when they move to Battersea, as they clearly will now that the planning applications are being drafted. I will be glad to see the back of them, and hopefully you too. My original statement stands, good riddance to bad rubbish.
From A Concerned Citizens on 25/11/2011 at 16:43
I just cant believe the arrogance & snobbery displayed by the anonymous twit "concerned citizen" !. I have been attending Stamford Bridge regularly since 1960 (aged 10) & yes there are occassional "incidents" as one would expect when 40,000 people collect in a small area, but by & large the vast majority attend to enjoy the "theatre" that is Chelsea FC in a peaceful manner. I wholeheartedly agree with the earlier comments ..... has "concerned resident" lived there prior to 1905 when the club was founded, if not then i suggest he gets Pickfords in pronto & he moves back from whence he came !!
From peter G on 25/11/2011 at 10:55
what an amazing statement from the LA when all those that support chelsea and football in west london have been well aware since the bates era of the l.a,s intransigence. As for the nimbys of chelsea, move out you bunch of oiks and faceless cowards.
From blue4life on 22/11/2011 at 11:28
To the "A Concerned Citizen" Chelsea FC have been at the Fulham Road for well over a hundred years, so unless you're over 100 years old and on the basis of your comments you could well be, maybe its you who should move out the area. Where would you suggest a club called Chelsea too move? Too many snotty nosed made in Chelsea (TV Series) inbreds in the area who are all to quick to point the finger at football fans and label them "bad rubbish!". If anything football fans have come a long way since the hooligan era of the 80''s.
From ChelseRudeBoy on 18/11/2011 at 11:29
I have been going to the Bridge since the early nineties and have seen it transformed to majestic and atmospheric stadium which still has the potential to be developed to accommodate 50-55,000 by simply adding a third tier to the North & South stands (how Mr Abramovich spent £700,000 on researching on all possibilities of expanding the Bridge is anyone's guess!!!) so that these new stands would line up with the West & East stands. This would then be one of most beautiful and atmospheric stadiums the world has ever seen!
From ChelseRudeBoy on 17/11/2011 at 17:22
Why the council would entertain assisting Chelsea FC with expansion is beyond me. We should be offering to help them pack to get them out of the borough. The disruptive element they bring to the area can be seen each game day. Drunks, people looking for a fight, they are all there to see.
The blight that exists on the Fulham Road is due 100% to Chelsea FC being there. The traffic, the crowds and the mess would all go away if they get moved on. If the stadium is expanded I will finally give in and move away. I have always suspected that the council was in the back pocket of Mr. Abromovich and that seems more clear than ever. When I heard that Chelsea had plans to move I was ecstatic. When I read that the council wanted to revisit expansion of Stamford Bridge I thought it was a misprint. Unbelievable. I know that the club is determined to go because they cannot get to 65k seating in the current configuration. They will go and I think we all know it. Good riddance to bad rubbish!
From A Concerned Citizen on 17/11/2011 at 15:56
hi folks,i have read with interest and would urge you to fight your corner to stay at your spiritual home-as a celtic supporter i know how it feels to be misled and told it would be impossible to redevelop our ground to an adequate all seated capacity pre-1994..that was until a certain fergus mccann came along,saved the club and built a 60k all seater on the site they said was not possible,do whatever it takes because it is certain you will only get BS from your local council..it breaks my heart to see great clubs move out of their area to the ''soulless bowls'' that someone referred to,you dont go to the game to admire some nice shiny plastic seats 5-10 kilometres from where you are from-you are chelsea...stay in the borough and all the best of luck.WDM
From g-dogg on 11/11/2011 at 00:37
H+F is run by a load of small minded wet sham fans, trust nothing thery say this is pure lip service
From mini bond on 08/11/2011 at 21:35
Chelsea have only submitted one planning application to H&F, for a walkway, and then withdrew it. The Club would prefer to move away and has not seriously considered expansion of the current ground, to the point of applying for permission. I don''t see how you can blame the council for not helping.
From Chiswick Blue on 08/11/2011 at 09:33
The council is not being truthful. They have knocked back so many proposals to extend the bridge using the access onto fulham road as the reason. When the final whistle goes at chelsea i am at the bar ordering my pint within 8 minutes in the kings road. At old trafford i''m stil trying to get ot of the ground 15 minutes after the whistle. Their council doesn''t worry about access or so called evacuation times.The bridge could be extended but they (the council) dont want it. The local posh residents cant wait to turn the bridge into a pheasant shooting reserve!
From Colin Handy on 08/11/2011 at 08:33
No matter what anybody says in Fulham or Hammersmith,Chelsea should be allowed to expand Stampford Bridge.I have been a Chelsea supported since 1962 and i remember taking my son to the old shed and had to put him on my shoulders to see the game,what memories i have of the Bridge.I no longer live in the UK i live in the USA but my son is always at the bridge so please get it done.
From Kelly on 08/11/2011 at 02:43
I recall the development of the East Stand after the glory years in the 1970''s. As I recall, the East stand was to be phase 1 of a bigger development that never transpired. It would be fitting that the club now have a stadium at the Bridge to match their ambitions.
From mark on 07/11/2011 at 13:05
Back when Ken Bates was redeveloping a design for the stadium included a new railway station at the back of the East Stand linking CFC with Clapham Junction and Shepherd''s Bush, Watford etc. It was even included on a future model of the stadium that Chelsea had. Whatever happened to this idea? The station could run the length of the East Stand to prevent overcrowding with special shuttle services to Clapham Junction utilizing the long disused Platform 1. A bridge could also be built providing an Emergency Only Exit through the cemetery. Add this to some of the other proposed access routes and you could end up with 3 exits that don't lead onto the Fulham Road.
From SM CFC on 05/11/2011 at 11:43
Great,Having Chealsea and Fulham teams are awesome. Craven Cottage is great for families. Would not want to lose that ambience. however, the crime and congestion needs to be addressed. Police are only seen in Fulham Broadway but we need policing for run off in parsons green and Elbrookcommon also. The local residents should get council tax relief for helping all the local business with this expansion. In addition, Fulham is on the Wimbledon line which is the busiest with the least amount of trains. The ratio of people compared to Richmond and Ealing lines are way out of balance. this should be thought of also.
From Local Resident on 04/11/2011 at 13:31
Chelsea have the money to redevelop the bridge to a 60000 stadium (and sort out the access issues). Local business will benefit greatly from extra income generated via more people attending. Given the current awful economic climate you'd think that H&F council would jump at the opportunity to redevelop the area, create related jobs, bring extra income to all local businesses etc... Really how difficult can it be? We can go to the moon but we can't redevelop the Bridge - I don't think so!! Let's see a ''Can Do'' attitude. Rather than always looking for obstacles as to why something can't be done - do the opposite, concentrate all efforts on making something happen. JUST GET ON WITH IT!
From Marko on 02/11/2011 at 16:36
Any planning consent must ensure that Fulham FC include in their design a riverside walk that will enable pedestrians to remain at the river side and not have to make the large and irritating detour around the ground as at present.
From Littlehales on 02/11/2011 at 10:42
I think that Chelsea are part of the heritage of the area & all reasonable steps should be taken to allow them to stay in the local community but meet the new fair play standards in finances. It''s also important that as well as increasing the income of teh stadium that local people can actually get tickets for matches at reasonable prices, due to the current lack of cap[acity that is not the case. The local transport links makes it an ideal location for a top tier international footbal club. Long may they stay at Stamford Brideg and lets all work together to make sure they stay in this area in a greater capacity stadium.
From Blues follower on 02/11/2011 at 10:35
Hammersmith and Fulham Council are rightly or wrongly perceived to be a major part of the problem with regards the Stamford Bridge redevelopment amongst the fans. As the council have now made a statement supporting redevelopment they must follow it through promptly in order to clarify the situation and hopefully enable the work to begin as soon as possible.
Hammersmith and Fulham council should do all they can to enable Chelsea FC to remain at Stamford Bridge as the Club is the most successful in London over the last decade and should be regarded as a tremendous asset not a problematic health and safety issue. I have been going to Chelsea since 1970 and have been at the Bridge amongst crowds of fifty plus thousand and do not see why capacities such as these cannot be reached again? To me the obvious solution would be to demolish the hotel at the Shed end and to build a whopper of a home end there with pedestrian links to west Brompton and Fulham Broadway constructed to accommodate the increased crowd. Chelsea F.C and Hammersmith and Fulham Council now have the ball in their courts as the fans have shown they want Chelsea at the Bridge so do they?
From Peter on 02/11/2011 at 08:39
if only we can trust the council to be true to their word. Getting planning permission in the past i.e. the west stand meant it took something like two years longer than it needed to for it to be completed. I have been coming to the bridge since 1947 and would be delighted to stay but we must have greater capacity to survive.
From delkay1940 on 01/11/2011 at 22:48
"We look forward to working closely with Chelsea FC"

Dont buy it, the council have done less than zero in the past to help us and are only coming out with this now due to the tensions that have been raised and to make it seems they are sympathetic to fans concerns

This will end in the usual farce with the council knocking back any serious planning applications, at the last resort if needs be falling back on the old much used - ''elf n'' safety'' excuse to refuse development

From malden blue on 01/11/2011 at 15:02
Walkways over the District Line to Fulham Broadway and the District/Overgound Line to West Brompton solve the access issues. A link from the walkway to Seagrave Road would massively reduce the pressure on the Fulham Road. It is so obvious. Stamford Bridge has some of the best transport links of any stadium in the country - it just requires a little bit of thought and money.
From Tom on 01/11/2011 at 15:01
Most Chelsea supporters would welcome this initiative by the council to see how best to retain CFC at its historic ground. CFC have stated that new building regulations prevent them builing new stands at the same "rake" as the upper tier of the East Stand. If it is going to economical then what most supporters want is to be close to the action/pitch which means not the souless bowls of new stadia that are so common place and lack atmostphere. For this to be vailable we need to build a stadium that is compact which fits into the site which will require steep "rake" - the council should bend the rules on this to allow us to build the stadium we need at our historic site, that will create an atmostphere second to none and will be the envy of all other clubs .

Given this initiative CFC should not pursue the buy out of CPO which I am fundementally against.
From Adil Pastakia on 01/11/2011 at 11:01
All Chelsea fans will welcome the council's comments, which appears to contradict the club's public statements that they have exhausted all avenues to expand Stamford Bridge.
From Blue Baby on 01/11/2011 at 10:41

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