Newcastle’s board, which includes prominent members of PIF, who are majority owners of the club, presented a vision of a new-build stadium at a summit in Northumberland chaired by Yasir Al-Rumayyan back in February.
Some staff have also seen a promotional video of a proposed new 65,000-seater stadium, but heading into autumn there is still no clarity on what comes next.
Leazes Park is right next to St James’ Park stadium (Photo: Getty)
Having been handed recommendations by the club’s board earlier this year, PIF officials are now reviewing the projected investment costs, financial returns and timescales of the different visions. The cost of building a new stadium could stretch to more than £1bn.
While the image of PIF in some quarters is they are willing to dish out blank cheques, the reality is very different. There is a willingness at all levels to build a spectacular new stadium for Newcastle but it has to be achievable and make financial sense.
“This is a much longer-term decision. Get it right and it’s brilliant. Get it wrong and the long-term impacts are significant,” one source said. The wait might be interminable, but it is at least proof that PIF remain highly engaged in club affairs.
Indeed during an in-house interview with club media after his unveiling last week Newcastle’s new CEO David Hopkinson left all options on the table, suggesting a renovation of St James’ Park – which some internally believe might be costly and not hit the sort of capacity a new build would be capable of – was still under consideration.
The i Paper took a stroll through Leazes Park during a rainy summer afternoon with Rachel Locke from the Save Newcastle Wildlife campaign group.
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Ms Locke says she grew alarmed at coverage suggesting the Leazes Park stadium was almost a “done deal” (something the club and council – in a statement to The i Paper – deny). She says the group is not anti-Newcastle United or even necessarily against a new stadium being built, but she wants any debate around potential plans to play out in the open.
In the 1990s a proposal by then owner Sir John Hall to move out of St James’ Park and build a new stadium modelled on the San Siro in nearby Castle Leazes was torpedoed by local opposition and planning regulations.
On the day we chat it is lunchtime and despite the overcast skies and unrelenting drizzle, a steady stream of joggers and city centre workers on their lunch hour walk past.
Wildlife in the shadows of St James’ Park (Photo: Getty)
“The reason why we started the petition was that it was reported that this will be built on Leazes Park (and) it’s just awaiting Government approval. It came as a bit of a shock although we’ve now been told that is speculation,” she says.
“The petition doesn’t say ‘Don’t build the stadium here’, it says have a referendum across the city on whether it should be built here.”
One idea, not confirmed by anyone at the club but that has been floated in reports, is that the current stadium site might be transformed into a city centre park to mitigate the loss of part of Leazes Park.
“Could it be that making a small sacrifice for the greater good – for better management of other parks and green spaces across the city – is the end result?
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Newcastle City Council said in a statement to The i Paper: “We appreciate the significant public interest in Newcastle United looking at future options for a stadium.
“If a planning application is submitted it will be assessed through the statutory planning process which includes public engagement. As with all planning applications consideration is given to potential environmental impact. Any application from the club would be treated in the same way as any other application.”
The Wimbledon comparison
Planning experts see potential similarities in the expansion of the Wimbledon tennis site, which was finally granted in July despite a High Court challenge by a protest group.
“Wimbledon has pretty much proved that – even with green field sites – pretty much nothing is impossible,” says Victoria Charlesson, a senior associate at Moore Barlow with a decade of experience in planning law.
“It’s not easy to build something like this on a greenfield or open site and it does make the process more complicated. But it can be done.”
Whatever Newcastle’s call, going through the planning process will be lengthy and expensive for the club with a lot of boxes to tick.
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It would be a fiendishly complex process, and experts believe it will easily take longer than a year.
“It typically takes several months to a few years, depending on the complexity of the application, the need for environmental impact assessments, and the level of public and statutory consultation required.
“An effective pre-application process, and a pragmatism from both the applicant and local planning authority, can help to reduce this timescale.”
Then there is even the possibility of a judicial review if those who oppose it believe there are legal grounds to take it to the High Court, as the Wimbledon protestors did.
It is probably for these reasons that the club’s owners are treading carefully. As frustrating as it is for supporters, the fact that such rigour is being applied to the decision feels like clear proof a seriously big investment is being considered.
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