Highbury Stadium, Fleetwood
Encyclopedia
Highbury Stadium is a football stadium
in Fleetwood
, Lancashire
, England
with Wyre Borough Council
as the landlords. It is the home ground of Fleetwood Town
and is also used for home matches by Blackpool F.C.
reserves. As of the opening of the new Parkside Stand on 16 April 2011, the ground has a capacity of around 5,500 people. Highbury Stadium is currently the 115th largest stadium by capacity in England and the seventeenth largest in their league
.
of Lancashire Combination
Cup wins. Until then the club had played on a ground next to the North Euston Hotel. It is situated on the south-west corner of the Memorial Park, just behind Highbury Avenue, for which it is named.
An unusual feature of the stadium was the 'setback' on the west side of the ground. Both the main stand and the long covered standing area known as the Scratching Shed were set back from the pitch by a large gap. This was the legacy of the short period from 1948 to 1952, when the stadium was used for speedway
with Fleetwood Flyers
riding in Division Two
of the National Speedway league. Fleetwood Flyers started the 1948 season as Wigan Warriors but moved to Fleetwood after racing a few away fixtures billed as Wigan. The Flyers raced in the National League Division Two from 1948 to 1951 without enjoying any great success. In 1952 the venue staged a number of open events with the team re-named the Fleetwood Knights. In 2008, when a new West Stand was built, it was constructed over the set back area, close to the pitch. To construct the stand, the builders had to clear about 5,000 tonnes of cinder and ash still left over from the speedway track.
to the official capacity of 621. The stand, at the south side of the ground runs about two-thirds the width of the pitch.
On 31 July 2007, Fleetwood Town announced the "Stadium Development Plan" which includes -
The total cost of this three-staged final phase of the ground development was originally expected to be over £2M.
The plan was finalized in December 2007, with construction being planned in two phases.
Planning permission for Phase One was granted by Wyre Borough Council on 4 March 2008. Building work began on 28 April 2008 with clearing work behind the Park End Stand and continued with the demolition of the Scratching Shed, removal of the existing floodlights and clearance work on the main stand. On 23 August 2008 the new stands were opened for Fleetwood's inaugural Conference North match against Vauxhall Motors F.C.
. The west stand, with its temporary seating, has a capacity of 550, and has been named the Highbury Stand. The stand at the Park end has a capacity of 1473. It has been named the Memorial Stand to honour those who lost their lives in service of their country and the trawlermen lost at sea from the port of Fleetwood.
Phase Two, the construction of the new East Stand, was originally scheduled begin during the close season in 2009, but was postponed by a year and the plans revised. A £125,000 project to re-lay the pitch and improve drainage was instead begun on 21 April 2009. This change was precipitated by a series of costly match postponements because of poor pitch conditions in 2008-09.
Plans the new stand were revised and resubmitted in December 2009. The proposed capacity was increased to 2000, increasing the ground capacity to over 5500, and meeting the requirements of Football League membership. The stand, with a proposed price tag of £4 million, was designed with three levels of seating, five executive boxes (subsequently increased to seven) and a function suite. The ground floor is predominantly for use by club operations, and was designed to house a community room and club shop. Planning permission was granted by Wyre Borough Council in March 2010, and development was set to begin during the 2010 close season. Construction began in May 2010, ahead of Fleetwood's Blue Square North
Play-off Final against Alfreton
, which they won 2-1. The stand, now named the Parkside Stand, was completed in Spring 2011, and fully opened ahead of Fleetwood's 3-1 victory over Altrincham
on 16 April 2011.
Images of the new £4m parkside stand: https://picasaweb.google.com/fleetwoodtown/ParksideBuildHistory#
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
in Fleetwood
Fleetwood
Fleetwood is a town within the Wyre district of Lancashire, England, lying at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 26,840 people at the 2001 Census. It forms part of the Greater Blackpool conurbation. The town was the first planned community of the Victorian era...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with Wyre Borough Council
Wyre
Wyre is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Poulton-le-Fylde.The district is named after the River Wyre, which runs through the district...
as the landlords. It is the home ground of Fleetwood Town
Fleetwood Town F.C.
Fleetwood Town F.C. is an English football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire. They currently play in the Conference National having been defeated in the Conference National play-off semi-final by AFC Wimbledon in the 2010–11 season.-History:...
and is also used for home matches by Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
reserves. As of the opening of the new Parkside Stand on 16 April 2011, the ground has a capacity of around 5,500 people. Highbury Stadium is currently the 115th largest stadium by capacity in England and the seventeenth largest in their league
Conference National
Conference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...
.
History
The ground was opened in 1939, at the culmination of the most successful three year period in the club's history, having completed a hat-trickHat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
of Lancashire Combination
Lancashire Combination
The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League...
Cup wins. Until then the club had played on a ground next to the North Euston Hotel. It is situated on the south-west corner of the Memorial Park, just behind Highbury Avenue, for which it is named.
An unusual feature of the stadium was the 'setback' on the west side of the ground. Both the main stand and the long covered standing area known as the Scratching Shed were set back from the pitch by a large gap. This was the legacy of the short period from 1948 to 1952, when the stadium was used for speedway
Motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
with Fleetwood Flyers
Fleetwood Flyers
Fleetwood Flyers were a speedway team in Fleetwood, England which operated from 1948 until 1952. Home meetings were raced at Highbury Stadium stadium, Park Avenue in Fleetwood.-Seasons:...
riding in Division Two
Speedway National League Division Two
The National League Division Two was the second tier of Speedway league competition in the United Kingdom. The competition was founded in 1938 following a competition named "The National Provincial League". Following World War II the second tier of racing was entitled "The Northern League" in 1946...
of the National Speedway league. Fleetwood Flyers started the 1948 season as Wigan Warriors but moved to Fleetwood after racing a few away fixtures billed as Wigan. The Flyers raced in the National League Division Two from 1948 to 1951 without enjoying any great success. In 1952 the venue staged a number of open events with the team re-named the Fleetwood Knights. In 2008, when a new West Stand was built, it was constructed over the set back area, close to the pitch. To construct the stand, the builders had to clear about 5,000 tonnes of cinder and ash still left over from the speedway track.
Ground redevelopment
In February 2007 the new Percy Ronson Stand was opened. A £200,000-plus development, the stand is all terracing, and is the first new stand at the Highbury Stadium since 1939. Originally stated to hold 1,240, this figure was later revised downwards 50% by Lancashire County CouncilLancashire County Council
Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It currently consists of 84 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, who won control of the council in the local council elections in June 2009, ending 28 years of...
to the official capacity of 621. The stand, at the south side of the ground runs about two-thirds the width of the pitch.
On 31 July 2007, Fleetwood Town announced the "Stadium Development Plan" which includes -
- The demolition of the Scratching Shed, to be replaced by a new west terrace similar to the Percy Ronson Stand, and also positioned close to the pitch.
- Demolition of the current terrace at the north end of the ground with another terrace similar to the Percy Ronson Stand. However this stand would run virtually the full width of the pitch unlike the Percy Ronson Stand.
- Demolition of the current social club at the east side of the ground, and development of a new 1,000 all-seater stand incorporating new changing rooms, four executive boxLuxury boxA Luxury box is a special seating section located within stadiums, arenas and other sporting and entertainment venues. They are typically located in the midsection of a stadium grandstand, usually providing the best views of the event...
es, dining facilities, a supporters bar, a first floor cafeteriaCafeteriaA cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or canteen...
, an ITInformation technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
suite, ground floor community room, new club offices and a club shop.
The total cost of this three-staged final phase of the ground development was originally expected to be over £2M.
The plan was finalized in December 2007, with construction being planned in two phases.
- Phase One: This involves the first two items of the above plan - the demolition of the Scratching Shed, and the construction of the north and west terraces, together with temporary seating in the West Stand, car parking, and new Football League standard floodlightsFloodlights (sport)Floodlights are broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial lights often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions....
.
- Phase Two: This involves the third item in the above plan, the construction of the new Main Stand on the east side of the ground with social and changing facilities. The current main stand, a small construction set back from the pitch on the west side of the ground next to the Scratching Shed, will remain until the completion of Phase 2, as it holds the changing rooms.
Planning permission for Phase One was granted by Wyre Borough Council on 4 March 2008. Building work began on 28 April 2008 with clearing work behind the Park End Stand and continued with the demolition of the Scratching Shed, removal of the existing floodlights and clearance work on the main stand. On 23 August 2008 the new stands were opened for Fleetwood's inaugural Conference North match against Vauxhall Motors F.C.
Vauxhall Motors F.C.
Vauxhall Motors Football Club is an English football club based in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, who play in the Conference North. It was originally the works team of the car manufacturer Vauxhall...
. The west stand, with its temporary seating, has a capacity of 550, and has been named the Highbury Stand. The stand at the Park end has a capacity of 1473. It has been named the Memorial Stand to honour those who lost their lives in service of their country and the trawlermen lost at sea from the port of Fleetwood.
Phase Two, the construction of the new East Stand, was originally scheduled begin during the close season in 2009, but was postponed by a year and the plans revised. A £125,000 project to re-lay the pitch and improve drainage was instead begun on 21 April 2009. This change was precipitated by a series of costly match postponements because of poor pitch conditions in 2008-09.
Plans the new stand were revised and resubmitted in December 2009. The proposed capacity was increased to 2000, increasing the ground capacity to over 5500, and meeting the requirements of Football League membership. The stand, with a proposed price tag of £4 million, was designed with three levels of seating, five executive boxes (subsequently increased to seven) and a function suite. The ground floor is predominantly for use by club operations, and was designed to house a community room and club shop. Planning permission was granted by Wyre Borough Council in March 2010, and development was set to begin during the 2010 close season. Construction began in May 2010, ahead of Fleetwood's Blue Square North
Conference North
The Conference North also known as Blue Square Bet North for sponsorship reasons, is a division of the Football Conference in England, taking its place immediately below the Conference National. Along with Conference South it is at Step 2 of the National League System and the sixth overall tier of...
Play-off Final against Alfreton
Alfreton Town F.C.
Alfreton Town F.C. is an English football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire. The club was reformed after a merger between Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfreton United in 1959...
, which they won 2-1. The stand, now named the Parkside Stand, was completed in Spring 2011, and fully opened ahead of Fleetwood's 3-1 victory over Altrincham
Altrincham F.C.
Altrincham Football Club is an English association football club from Altrincham, Greater Manchester. They currently play in the Conference North, having been relegated from the Conference National at the end of the 2010–11 season.-History:...
on 16 April 2011.
Images of the new £4m parkside stand: https://picasaweb.google.com/fleetwoodtown/ParksideBuildHistory#