Delays to new all-seater south stand

Well with just a few days to run until the start of the new season, we still await planning permission for, let alone the erection of, the promised new stand. Gasburner understands from the council website that the planning application was submitted/received on April 11th 2023 and was then validated by the council on the 29th June 2023.

There are many Gasheads asking why you would pull down the previous temporary stand and lay the groundwork for construction to begin before you've even had the confirmation of permission being granted. Rovers perhaps made an assumption that with a gap of around 12 weeks or more between home league games, and the application being submitted in April, that surely a decision was close. So to ensure the construction could start the minute that decision is made - why wouldn't you remove the temporary stand?

However, anyone with knowledge on how Bristol City Council tends to operate on these matters will know that they are notoriously slow when it comes to turning around their decision on applications. And we know that historically, local residents have often objected to redevelopment at the mem.

Was it naïve? A lack of local understanding?

Many Gasheads were predicting this scenario.

If you attended the Chesterfield friendly or have been at the ground recently you will have seen that there is currently just rubble and fencing laying where the new stand is set to be. As seen in this image shared by Bristol Posts BristolRoversLive twitter account.

So what happens now? As of time of first publish, we are still awaiting planning permission and our first home game is less than two weeks away. There wont be time now to have the stand in place and passed fit to operate before we welcome Barnsley. So some fans are speculating that the game will be postponed or moved to another ground. Some suggesting this could be a fixture switch and we play the home game as the away game and vice versa. Some (we think not so serious) Gasheads are even saying Ashton Gate. All of the above is probably unlikely and in fact we are much more likely to host the game with a vastly reduced capacity.

There are minimum requirements however for any team to provide sufficient undercover seating for away spectators, though these can be relaxed with special permission from the EFL, so it is possible Rovers may choose to use some of the Poplar Stand or the entire East Stand for away supporters.

Or they may well even elect to seek a postponement in order to avoid the inevitable backlash from home supporters if Rovers choose that last option.

We simply don't know at this stage what will happen for that Barnsley game.

Other than perhaps submitting the application earlier or being pessimistic from the outset and leaving the temporary stand in place, Rovers leadership probably made the right moves here - they have just been undone by the notoriously and painstakingly slow Bristol City Council processes.