New Workington stadium at last

8000 seats but in Workington new stadium to be built by council for reds and town announced this morning.

Well done to Reds, Town and their council. They've achieved a lot more than ours!

Workington more progressive than Carlisle. Sums up a lot really

Much needed boost for sport in west cumbria, could still not go ahead as some councillors are trying to derail the project and the speedway lot are kicking up a fuss

Looks great



for them

Puts us to shame.

You'd hope it might be a bit of a wake-up call for the old farts at Carlisle Council but I doubt it.

CCU wrote:

Whiteside wrote: Much needed boost for sport in west cumbria, could still not go ahead as some councillors are trying to derail the project and the speedway lot are kicking up a fuss

What sort of crowds get to the Speedway fixtures?

Speedway attendance figures are surprisingly difficult to come by. When they were doing well in the Carl Stonehewer era circa 2004 they used to average over 1,000 with 2,500 for big nights.

Think it's tailed off since across the sport in general, but I'd guess their attendances are still at least comparable with if not better than Reds.

And the old farts at BP

I wonder if they're going to install these 7G pitches Steve Patt was on about like they have at Barnet?

I'd much prefer natural grass myself. I'm guessing Reds would have to go t'et Rugby ground for a season.

Reds will need a ground share while it's being built

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A new stadium with 7G or whatever would facilitate both rugby and football unlike it was like at Newport - whatever level the clubs play at grass is going to get turfed up if you mix the two.

Shame is over that way is that there is such a healthy rivalry between Workington and Whitehaven in the sport of rugby that people from Whitehaven are more reluctant to support Workington in football.

Shameful but well done to those out west. 8000 ambition is ambitious. It is like us going for 15k to 20k. Sadly our council and board can't even facilitate a meagre 10k city stadium. What a shame and what an embarrassment that carlisle plods on with no ambition or vision. If Workington, Scunthorpe, Rotherham, st Helens, Warrington, Wigan, Leigh, accrington, Exeter, barnet, Fleetwood and God knows how many other similar or smaller and poorer towns can fund new or upgraded grounds why can't we?
It is a disgrace and those in the council and at the club have failed us. Yet again.

I hope the council are going to start dredging the rivers otherwise the ground will be a write-off in no time once it floods down there again.

It'll be the best ground in the North West Counties League by far.

Looks like they’ve nicked their plans from here.

£25.0m on a Stadium, with partners....Looks like a decent business plan. Hopefully the Council are not considering PFI.

Carlisle are going to spend £19.0m on a swimming pool, cheapskate Marra's..........

Fear not, there turning the Sheepmount into a Speedway Track.......

CCU wrote: Gone up from £15m to £25m in 3 Months!

Though that maybe as they want to put the facilities in for such office usage?

Plus there’s a drive to move non essential workers from Sellafield to the local towns. Couple of big office blocks have been built in Whitehaven so no doubt this is a good way to move another load.

Dancingbear wrote:

CCU wrote: Gone up from £15m to £25m in 3 Months!

Though that maybe as they want to put the facilities in for such office usage?

Plus there’s a drive to move non essential workers from Sellafield to the local towns. Couple of big office blocks have been built in Whitehaven so no doubt this is a good way to move another load.

But the whole point is you turn your excess space into offices and then lease them out to create an income not spend another 10 million creating them specially as all the lease payments are going to do is pay off the 10 million of extra borrowings unless theres something they're not telling us at this stage like say a million pounds a year for 20 years naming rights deal for the whole complex hich would bring a massive bounty for the council But I can't see it myself

NORTHERNSOUL wrote:

Dancingbear wrote:

CCU wrote: Gone up from £15m to £25m in 3 Months!

Though that maybe as they want to put the facilities in for such office usage?

Plus there’s a drive to move non essential workers from Sellafield to the local towns. Couple of big office blocks have been built in Whitehaven so no doubt this is a good way to move another load.

But the whole point is you turn your excess space into offices and then lease them out to create an income not spend another 10 million creating them specially as all the lease payments are going to do is pay off the 10 million of extra borrowings unless theres something they're not telling us at this stage like say a million pounds a year for 20 years naming rights deal for the whole complex hich would bring a massive bounty for the council But I can't see it myself

Well I’d guess the plans to include the office space will have changed somewhat from the original plan was and I’d also guess the NDA will be paying a fair whack towards it.

Looks like Workington have found a possible way to fund their new stadium with some creative work with a developer and the council

I think our relationship with the council is poor. Needs working on but I doubt whether our owners have the intelligence to do that

It looks like quite a smart way of doing it to be honest-I’m guessing council can underwrite a long lease and sell it to an annuity fund off about 40yp-say 2.5p yield with RPI increases, backed onto some commercial leases like the NHS.A lot of these deals about in the market as annuity funds are desperate for long term yield.

To do this,you need a developer working with the Council-this would absolutely be my way of building a new BP.Its a variation of PFI but with the rate of interest being a fraction of the old PFI schemes.

I hope someone from the BOD reads this board and realises what a good opportunity they've missed by sitting round a table and giving your plans proper consideration instead of digging a "billionaire" out of thin air

To be honest I didn’t give much thought to the stadium at the time-focus was on stabilising the ship,improving the back office and making the ownership structure an investable proposition.

Since then, the stadium has come to the front through the floods etc but without an investable capital structure, it would be mad to consider a new stadium.Remember the Trust can block any new equity raise if it has the potential to dilute.

CCU wrote: Allerdale Council have today given the go ahead to the business plan for the new Stadium:

Robert Cooper @BBCRobertCooper

The business plan has now been approved by the executive twitter.com/BBCRobertCoope…

22 Mar 2025 10:45

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This wants stopping now paying 92 million for a ground thats costing just 27mis just ridiculous and totally wrong i.m pretty sure even Mike Ashley would do them a better deal than that.

What's wrong with borrowing the money from the public loans board at 2% like dozens of other councils have done ?

CCU wrote: Someone’s making a few quid from it!

68 Million to be exact. Nice work if you can get it

Wonder if anybody's asked what happens if the demolish Wukkie and then it goes tits up and doesn't happen

It’s a great deal-PFI type deal but off a much lower rate of interest and offset by some supporting development-I think it’s a great deal for all.Well done the council for a great ‘enabling’ development.

Why Carlisle cannot follow the lead is beyond me.

As a resident of allerdale and general sports fan I would love to see the development go ahead but still fear that certain councillors with their own agenda will do anything to stop it,interest that you Laffy think the deal is good perhaps the council could employ you to explain this to councillor jenkinson and his band of anti-anything mates

It’s very straightforward-long term interest rates are at an historic low so why not borrow money at 2pc pa for 50 years plus-pension funds love government backed loans as they are perceived as ultra low risk.

Then lay off some of the annual interest cost by building some nice pre let commercial property alongside.

But it’s not just about the cash.Allerdale will have a state of the art stadium which will lift the area and encourage further development.

It’s exactly how Carlisle should go about rebuilding BP

Laffy wrote: It’s very straightforward-long term interest rates are at an historic low so why not borrow money at 2pc pa for 50 years plus-pension funds love government backed loans as they are perceived as ultra low risk.

Then lay off some of the annual interest cost by building some nice pre let commercial property alongside.

But it’s not just about the cash.Allerdale will have a state of the art stadium which will lift the area and encourage further development.

It’s exactly how Carlisle should go about rebuilding BP

The grassed area opposite has already been fenced off ready for a budget hotel and pub set up to be built. Think it’s Travelodge.

They will sign a 25 year lease off around 7pc pa-good start.I hope it really works for them as it’s a smart deal for everyone

Laffy wrote: They will sign a 25 year lease off around 7pc pa-good start.I hope it really works for them as it’s a smart deal for everyone

No, Andrew, a smart deal would have just been to tell BNFL or whatever they call themselves nowadays to get the money borrowed and get the thing built or in future they.ll have to get permission to fart.

95 million over 20 years where the hell are the clubs going to find that its the best part of 5m a year and thats before you hit the cycle where interest rates end up at 3 times that

It’s the council paying the interest Barry-not the clubs.And it’s over 50 plus years-not 20.And the rate is fixed-not variable.

The whole thing works because you can borrow 50 year money for next to nothing.Its very popular with pension funds as I said-they just want annuity income which is bomb proof-hence it’s a council backed lease.

Great scheme in my view

Dancingbear wrote:

Laffy wrote: It’s very straightforward-long term interest rates are at an historic low so why not borrow money at 2pc pa for 50 years plus-pension funds love government backed loans as they are perceived as ultra low risk.

Then lay off some of the annual interest cost by building some nice pre let commercial property alongside.

But it’s not just about the cash.Allerdale will have a state of the art stadium which will lift the area and encourage further development.

It’s exactly how Carlisle should go about rebuilding BP

The grassed area opposite has already been fenced off ready for a budget hotel and pub set up to be built. Think it’s Travelodge.

When the Rugby World Cup is played there it won't be budget prices in the Travelodge. They'll probably try and get £400 a night for a room!!

There seems to be strong cross-party support for new investment in West Cumbria. The new coal mine at Whitehaven proposed by West Cumbria Mining looks like it is going ahead. Carlisle probably suffers as in comparison it is doing pretty well so doesn't need the financial boost from major new projects.

By the time the stadium is paid off they'll be ready for new one. Meanwhile CUFC will still be at BP with Jenkins still going strong in his 130's.

We seem to live in an age when nobody elected to represent the people is prepared to make a decision for fear of reprisals.

The town desperately needs this facility-get on with it

I doubt the attendances are material to the overall equation.Its hardly going to be a white elephant either

The 2600 would be without leasing office space. Its supposedly self financing if the offices are leased which id say they definitely will be. Sellafield are moving as many non contact workers off site as possible. Not that id vote Tory anyway but councillor Jenkinson certainly wont be getting my vote.

Spineless is what I would call the lot of them-Workington can either have

-nothing and get by on what they have or;

-a state of the art facility for the whole community

It’s never been cheaper to do deals like the one on the table

It sounds like a no brainer to me. Yes it is a risk - what isn't these days - but surely the area will all benefit from such a great facility. It will be the hub of sport for all of west Cumbria. A place crying out for new sports facilities for decades and now they get the chance there are those looking to scupper it. I'm all for caution at times but sometimes you just need to go for it.
I'm talking about Carlisle council and cufc too, obviously.

As always,I would asking those opposing it what their plan is-normally there isn’t one.