Re: Permission Granted
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Deepdale stand is delivered
Preston are aiming to start work on their new £6m-plus Pavilion Stand before the end of the year – and have it open for next season.
Deepdale officials were today celebrating planning approval.
But chairman Derek Shaw admitted: "We still have a long way to go before the bulldozers move in."
Councillors yesterday granted permission for the project, which incorporates a public health clinic attached to the 5,000-seater stand.
North End say they and their partners, the Primary Care Trust, now have to sit down to thrash out the final details
before contracts are signed and the work can get underway.
"It's tremendous news that planning permission has been given," said Shaw today.
"But there is still an awful lot of work to be done before things can start.
"Just because the council have given us the go ahead doesn't mean to say the demolition crews will be moving in just
yet.
"There are a lot of legal things to do now before we can get going.
"We would start tomorrow if we had the money in place and the lease signed. But these things take time."
Shaw admitted he was expecting the bulldozers would be in within a matter of weeks and work on completing the redevelopment of Deepdale would get underway before Christmas – a decade after it began with the opening of the Sir Tom Finney Stand.
North End hope to have fans sitting in the new Pavilion by the time next season kicks off.
"Without a doubt, that's what we would like," said Shaw.
"Hopefully we will have a superb four-sided stadium by next August.
"That is our aim. But we have to get things signed, sealed and delivered before we can shift a brick.
"There is no exact timescale at the moment.
"That will depend on how quickly we can get the paperwork done and get started.
"But we would like something to start on site before the end of the year. And hopefully it will be up and running by the start of next season."
The new stand, which will house executive boxes and hospitality suites, has been on the drawing board since the club completed its third side, the Alan Kelly Town End.
But a lack of finance, initially caused by the collapse of the ITV Digital deal, put the scheme on hold.
North End confessed only promotion to the Premiership – or the emergence of a wealthy benefactor – would provide the capital needed to complete the stadium.
But, after three near-misses in five seasons in the play-offs, a deal with PCT was struck this summer to go ahead with the scheme as a partnership, with income from a health clinic providing the funds needed to service a bank loan for the project.
"We have done an enormous amount of work along with our partners the PCT – hundreds of hours work – getting to where we are now," said Shaw.
"We have to push on now to get together and get the leases completed. We also have to finalise the deal with the bankers, who have been very much involved at every step of the way.
"All we were missing was one vital ingredient – planning
approval. And now that has been given we can move on.
"We can't say exactly when things will happen. But I can say it will be as soon as we can get everything together.
"We can't possibly do anything until we have got the signatures on the lease with the PCT. But they are very keen and very supportive, they want this scheme to happen just as much as we do."
Original estimates of cost put the new stand at around £5m.
But, while Shaw refuses to put a new figure on the work, he said today: "It is going to be more than that – certainly more than £6m.
"The old Pavilion Stand is an eyesore – an embarrassment. So is the old training ground. And the sooner they are both redeveloped, the better for everyone, especially the people who live around the ground."
