You seem so confident that "This development would massively benefit Hull". Which one, the one with the duplicate ice rink or the one with the supermarket and Greggs? Which version are you talking about?

If the former, let's be honest, who'd be on the hook for running a leisure centre, ice rinks, squash courts? If the Council, you'd be asking them to taken on a shedload of incremental running costs for no return in a financially constrained environment. If you were running them as private entities, they'd be no more "benefit to the people" than opening another David Lloyd centre and getting people to shell out £60 a month.

If the latter, we come back to retail planning capacity, a point you seem to be struggling with. Will this help the traders of Anlaby Road, St Stephens, Whitefriargate or Princes Quay? Or just further impoverish a city centre retail market challenged enough by vacant properties whilst out of centre or edge of centre developments suck the life out of them? The market for physical retail is declining with the growth in online. Why would it be such a good thing to mortgage the stadium against loans to build all this stuff when there's a risk the market shrinks further in 5 years and the bank calls in the security and ends up owning a community asset? All for an extra 5k seats for City's brief PL tenure, which won't be fully utilised anyway. Lunacy.

The plan was for a £114m sport village, not for an out of town shopping centre.

But your post is a perfect example of the mentality that leads to Hull missing out on such developments.

The prime reason given for not wanting to progress this idea, was that the moving of Hull Fair was not up for discussion. So we have an eyesore for fifty weeks of the year, just so that we can site a fair there for a week a year, a travelling fair that could be sited anywhere.

It was. That was then, an emotive argument to get people on-side. Sport's a good thing, right? But sporting facilities make little money. In 2011, local businessman Allam has revealed detailed plans to build a complex, which would include a hotel, tennis, squash and gymnastics facilities, an Olympic-size swimming pool and a multi-story car park. "People of all ages will be able to come and play here. I want to see our younger generation only go home to eat and sleep, rather than hanging around on street corners." Noble. If unsupported by presentation of any detail to the folks he wanted to donate him a £46m asset.


Last weekend, however, the current version was revealed here "I had in mind £30 million to spend on the infrastructure of the club, to increase the stadium by 10,000 and to have commercial activities around the stadium – cafeterias, shops, supermarkets - to have all this to create income for the club so that in the future it can be self-financing and not relying on me."

Philanthropic Sporting village gift, or Hull City-funding, city centre-killing retail park? Could it be any clearer? You still seem unwilling to discuss planning policy on city centre regeneration. I recently met the head of planning for the North West. I know where the appetite is, and I understand why. You seem blinded to the downsides, in fact you state categorically that there are none. Because it's convenient for you to slate anyone challenging lifting sensible convenants and articulating the broader context of financial and ownership risk, retail market decline and planning policy as a Luddite.

Hull City Council determine what does, or doesn't, get planning permission, but if you refuse to discuss moving the fair, then you're guaranteed to get nothing. Luddites is a perfect term for those in charge of Hull City Council, dinosaurs is another.

Unlike you, for whom the term "mouthpiece" comes to mind. How is your best buddy Assam.

So, to be quite clear - the vitriol Allam has towards the council relates to nothing more than their unwillingness to hand over the freehold to the stadium without so much as an offer on the table nor sight of a business plan? Surely it would only be the actions of "cretins" (to use your elegant metaphor) to hand over the keys to Allam under those premises?


Surely, no it can't be, [isurely[/i Allam couldn't have had a hidden agenda all along!? It beggars belief that he may have attempted to mislead (some may say lied and cheated) the citizens of Hull as to his true intentions?

But no, I do him a disservice. I distinctly remember him referring to shops and a supermarket some time ago, so the women would have something to do whilst the men played/watched sport, he said. Perhaps the nuance of this may be lost on Lambrettaman, who has a habit of heralding his returns to this forum with a cheery "Evening gents".


Are you being deliberately blind to Mrs B's questions or are you just incredibly obtuse? What are your thoughts on the viability of either a "sporting village" or a Hull-City-income-generating retail park on that site? What would be the long-term consequences of borrowing against the stadium to either of those ends and what would be the effects on the existing trade in the city?

As you have so far avoided this challenge now on no less than four occasions in the last 24 hours, my guess is that you are, indeed, obtuse and are unable to provide answers. Let's see if this is the fifth time you fail to address the points.

I have rarely seen someone so completely inserted into another's rectal passage as Scooterboy.

Or he's just an out-and-out troll.

The third option is that he's just stupid enough to actually believe the tripe he posts, but I find it difficult to credit that anyone with that low an IQ could manage to access the internet.

Site Admin have ruled that 'cretin' is not a word whose use is acceptable on this site. Use it again and your posting rights will be removed.

scooterboy would believe the moon was made of cheese if allem told him it was!

Personally, I wouldn't allow planning for retail on the site, but then I wouldn't insist that the site wasn't available to start with, I'd discuss what would be allowed and what benefits it would bring to the city I was supposed to represent.

His name is Allam and what ever he said, I'd believe the moon was made up of Titanium, Magnesium, Sodium, Calcium, Iron, Aluminium, Silicon and Oxygen.

Do you seriously expect the local authority to hand over a public asset valued at £millions to a privately owned company? What is the rationale for it? Surely the stadium should be given to city and Hull FC if it is handed over at all?

woosh!!!!!!!!!!!

at least you had time to google it!!!!!!!!!

As a pass holder for both clubs I want to continue to watch both clubs at the KC so this would be fine with me