Seagulls To Get New Home At Last - 28/10/2005

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has ruled that Brighton and Hove Albion can build a new stadium at Falmer on the city's outskirts. The club first applied for permission to build the ground in 2001. They have been renting an athletics stadium at Withdean which has a capacity limit of 7,000, very little cover and a poor atmosphere because the pitch is surrounded by a running track. The club could not have survived in the long run at Withdean. Chief executive Martin Perry commented, 'There is a lot of work still to do before we actually put a shovel in the ground, but it is a very exciting time for all of us.' Some Falmer residents had objected strongly to having a stadium built in their village, but the Deputy Prime Minister decided that the stadium was in the public interest and there were no realistic alternatives. The effort by the supporters included writing 100,000+ letters, two public enquiries, a top twenty hit (involving a friend of mine), a racehorse in the club's name, two temporary homes (initially at Gillingham), several marches and the longest sporting planning application and enquiry in history. An overjoyed fan commented, 'It brings 10 years of exhaustive campaigning to an end to keep Albion alive, we now have a future.' The saga started, of course, when the Goldstone Ground was sold for development and what has happened since then is a tribute to what can be achieved by persistent and well organised fans determined to save their club.