Hello and welcome to the second update surrounding the exciting redevelopment of Turf Moor & Gawthorpe.

One thing that is giving me a great thrill on this project is maintaining the club in the heart of town.
My other projects with football grounds at the Ricoh at Coventry and the Reebok at Bolton seemed like great ideas at the time.
Now, I start to question them because you are moving football fans five miles out of town.
Football has always been a working class community sport and in years gone by the players themselves were working class.
I think a football club needs to be a part of the town and Turf Moor has always been the heartbeat of Burnley so to rebuild here, when we know it will help the town centre as well, is very rewarding
We will be able to look back on this project in a few years time and say how fantastic it is for Burnley.

Things are certainly moving on a pace since we last spoke.
Planning application for phase one, the new players' block, is in and that seems to have gained a very favourable response in a council committee report.
A few minor questions still need answering, but it seems to be a non-contentious application and we hope to have that build starting, as planned, in the close season.
We have it fully costed, it will go to tender shortly and the £2.5m project would then take six to seven months, opening in time for the 2009/10 season.

The new players' block

That will, of course, be the 50th anniversary year of the championship win, which ties in quite well with a fantastic new facility for the players.
It won't just be players that benefit though. The disabled supporters will be in that area until we build the new stand, and although we appreciate they are not in the best position at present, the shelter the new players block will provide should make them a lot more comfortable.
On the subject of disabled, we have met with their representative, Peter Baron, to outline what we hope to do.
There will be fantastic new facilities inside the new stand and at that point, disabled supporters will have the option to either relocate, or stay close to the action and the new tunnel area.

The new stand continues to evolve in a consultation period and that will probably be the case right up until the first brick is laid.

In the meantime, things continue to move on. We have now realised that if we make the lower seating moveable, it gives us so many different options on non-matchdays.
By removing these seats and either relocating block 1 and 3 sideways, or taking all three blocks out, we have a superb auditorium or exhibition hall.
On matchdays, the drip line in the roof of the new stand now provides a big overhang, protecting supporters from the elements far better than with the current stands.

Removable seating will help to use the stand for a variety of events

As part of the consultation period, we have held two more meetings with Burnley Cricket Club and hopefully they can see that what we are trying to do will make them more profitable in the future.
There are detractors and that is fine because we want tough questions, but the uniqueness of a football and cricket ground cannot be under-estimated and in exchange for a piece of land, we are rebuilding their pavilion at a cost of around £1m which we have asked them to help plan.
That should double their profits, so we really want to work with them and not see us as a threat.
To help, we recently had a visit from two senior officials from Lancashire Cricket Club because once the development is complete we hope we can attract LCC to Turf Moor as an outreach for training purposes and Second XI games.
Burnley is just the right distance from Manchester and we will have top facilities including indoor nets, a pool and leisure facilities. They were very keen to talk to us and Burnley Cricket Club and hopefully that will develop into a sports village that will benefit all parties.
For the private sector to come along and invest £30m in a sports and leisure village in Burnley is huge and I want everyone to understand the implications for the clubs and the town as a whole.

The hotel is coming along fantastically well because of Brendan Flood's contacts. It will be the major boost for this stand and the way Brendan in terms of attracting a major client has handled this is just fantastic.
Discussions continue with the current Health and Fitness Club, to ascertain the working plans. Do we run both and have different bands of membership, or run one? These are questions we need to solve.
But in most areas, I see there being room for discussions and tweaking the plans right up to signing the contract with the builders and that is the right way to go.

Another area starting to gain momentum is the walk up to the club from the town via Yorkshire Street.
I think we all realise that area and the bridge over the culvert needs a facelift and that remains an integral part of the plans.
The street is the main approach to the club and first impressions are everything. We would dearly like this area to fit in and look impressive, so if the owners and residents on Yorkshire Street will agree to upgrading their frontages, there will be grant aid.

Finally, we are working with club historian Ray Simpson to incorporate a museum. We really want to create an archive room in the new development, which is something long overdue.
We don't see it as a public room but a private room viewable by prior appointment. However, it would form an important part of ground tours and include as much history on the club as we can. That means we will soon be asking supporters for anything of interest and I look forward to seeing what treasure troves you can uncover.

Paul Fletcher MBE
Development Director