After the news that Torquay United chairman Clarke Osborne has unveiled the first plans for a new stadium for the Gulls at Nightingale Park, we will now revisit a few questions which we first asked earlier in the year when Osborne first announced plans for the stadium.
1. Which recent newly built football stadia have you visited as part of the research in building a new stadium?
No answer to this question has yet been given in the press by Osborne, or by any senior member of the United staff.
2. Have you, or do you intend to, seek out advice from figures from other sports such as Tony Rowe of the Exeter Chiefs with regard to building any new stadia and developing associated income streams?
Osborne hasn't indicated whether he sees Sandy Park as any kind of model for any future stadium plans, but it's quite possible that Chiefs' chairman Tony Rowe would be willing to give advise to Osborne, just as he offered to for Plymouth Argyle chairman James Brent on the construction for the Pilgrims' new grandstand at Home Park.
3. In your statement you talk about the new stadium having 'good road and rail communication'. Does this therefore mean that the proposed new railway station at Edginswell Park is likely to happen if Nightingale Park is your preferred option, and is the overall stadium plan dependent on this happening?
In his statement Osborne revealed that Nightingale Park is his preferred location for a new stadium for Torquay United and has talked of the stadium having substantial transport links.
A stadium at Nightingale Park would have 'good road' links in the form of the A380, A383 and the A3022, but it may not necessarily have 'good rail links' as Torbay Council announced at the end of last year it would not spending any more money on the project to build a new station at Edginswell. If the new station is constructed then the remaining funding will come from the national New Station Fund and the regional Local Enterprise Partnership, whereby Torbay would be competing for funding with any towns and cities, but no new funding will be available until 2020. Without the new station, rail links for a new stadium at Nightingale Park will arguably be no better than they currently are with Plainmoor.
4. When can we expect to see an artist's impression of the new site?
No artist's impression of the site has been produced to the best of the knowledge of SWF but we await to see one with anticipation.
5. Finally, when you say your objectives remain the same in the event of relegation - does this mean that the club will stay full-time if relegated to National League South in order to challenge for immediate promotion back to the National League?
Osborne stated towards the end of the last season that United would be staying full-time for the 2018-19 season as they aim to bounce back to the National League South under Gary Owers at the first attempt. In football, the performance of the team on the field can often help to underpin everything else around the club. Nevertheless, despite Owers' optimism that United can win promotion at the first time of asking, it is by no means guaranteed and could part-time football be on the cards if United don't bounce back at the first attempt?
Following Osborne's statement, other questions that remain include: how will the planned £40million project be funded? How will the £750,000 grant for the construction of Bristow's Bench from the Football Stadium Investment Fund be repaid, and by whom?
Also the plans also feature proposals for an Academy and a Centre of Excellence, so will Osborne be looking to appoint an experienced football figure as Director of Football to oversee it?
And finally, if the plans for a new stadium come to fruition then great, but if planning permission isn't granted then what?
