Pompey Unveil New Stadium Plans

Last updated : 18 June 2008 By Jim Bonner
Portsmouth have revealed the latest plans for building a new state-of-the-art 36,000 capacity stadium on Horsea Island.

The new development, designed be Herzog & de Meuron, also includes a 10,000 seater indoor arena, a new diving facility for the Navy and a retail centre.

Work would begin in 2009 with the stadium being built in 2010 IF Pompey receive planning consent from the council.

David Williams, Chief Executive of Portsmouth City Council has highlighted that the main issues standing in the way of the stadium being built would be what impact the stadium would have on shopping and house prices in the rest of the city but the biggest issue will be access.

The only way to get to Horsea Island currently is by car and with Cosham, Hilsea and Portchester railway stations a good distance away the club are going to have to invent an impressive park & ride scheme to try and work around this problem.

Pompey say that "a comprehensive package of transport measures aimed at providing efficient access to all the facilities on Horsea Island will be introduced". If they can nail this and convince the council it will work then I think that will ultimately sway them and we can finally get a stadium fitting for a team that has just won the FA Cup.

Having seen some of the artistic impressions and having heard what the new stadium would do for the city of Portsmouth I can't help but feel positive about the whole proposal.

However, there will always be a cynical side of me that thinks that this will never happen. After all, this saga has been going on way before I was even born and there have been constant hurdles to stop Pompey growing whether it be the Navy or Brent Geese.

As much as I love Fratton Park I really want this new stadium to happen as without it we will never become major forces in the Premier League and we won't have Harry at the helm forever to keep working his magic either so we need this to happen if our Pompey are ever to fulfil their full potential.

The move is long overdue; will it finally happen this time?