Grab a cuppa SaveOurTowners and let’s talk next steps.
With revised outline planning now approved for the whole Newlands Park site, we can turn our focus to the one remaining planning requirement left. This is the revision to the plans for the stadium element (only) for Power Court. This meeting date is yet to be confirmed but spring rather than summer.
Being the only people in the Public Gallery at Wednesday’s meeting, Save Our Town were able, post-meeting, to ask 2020 Developments CEO, Gary Sweet, if the original music venue facility at Power Court was still viable in the post-Covid world, a question many non-football people have been concerned about. We’re delighted to report that it remains ‘a desire’ to deliver on that vision.
As most people will have worked out, the income and financial contribution from Newlands Park towards the cost of the stadium has been seriously compromised as a result of the unavoidable switch from a high-end retail and leisure centric development to a more mixed-use facility. In other words, the commercial value of the Newlands Park site has dramatically reduced as a result of the shift to internet retailing since 2016 and then the subsequent hit from Covid to the economy. We can only guess the reduced contribution runs to millions of pounds. To compound the problem, construction costs have probably risen by 20% in the last two years. A perfect storm!
So, we digress, a music venue remains on the cards. Presumably space will be allocated on the Power Court site, even if construction is delayed until viability is assured and funds are available.
Save Our Town fully support this facility. The people of Luton and the wider area need it. In fact we hope it will be optimised as a multi-purpose events venue for concerts, indoor sports, exhibitions and other large-space events. It certainly has the transport links and the benefits for the local economy are obvious.
For the doom mongers and keyboard warriors, Save Our Town would just remind you of the reality of the ‘new normal’. We might want it to be different but it ain’t. Managing our lives is tough enough; navigating a multi-million pound project through unprecedented, peace-time storms takes enormous fortitude.
We have much to be grateful to 2020 for. One more meeting! Rome wasn’t built in a day and those Romans weren’t even answerable to the Planning Act 2008! Believe.
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