I know that some give Wakefield a hard time on this board and much of that is born out of the fact that Belle Vue is, I totally agree, the worst ground in Super League (although they have the best playing surface!!!). However, it is now difficult to argue that in terms of their on-field performances since franchising that they did not deserve their place and they proved their doubters wrong. But what about the next franchise period if they don't get a decent ground?

They have played their cards quite close to their chest since the Thornes Park stadium scheme (quite rightly) fell through, unlike others. On Saturday they announced their plans at public consultation event in Stanley in Wakefield. I went along for mainly professional reasons but also as a fan of the game and someone who does want to see Wakefield and their fans get the ground that they deserve. Well I was expecting a bit of half-baked scheme with no real time scale and something that was maybe just designed to keep the RFL happy so they can be seen to be progressing in time for the next franchise period. How wrong was I!

This is a well conceived overall development scheme and backed by a developer (Yorkcourt) who is in the scheme for the long-hall and is Wakefield based. The actual old Newmarket Colliery site is huge and it is this that ultimately the developer is interested in. The 'deal' (which I understand is agreed in principal) looks to be very favourable for all parties, Wakefield get a major financial contribution to build there new ground from the developer, Wakefield council get several thousand new jobs available locally and Yorkcourt makes money. The ground, community sports facilities (grass and all weather training pitches) and it's 800 parking spaces is probably only 15% to 20% of the overall site and the rest of the site is made up (currently) of a mix of large distribution to small distribution and industrial units, a new hotel and the obligatory fast-food outlet! They developer did tell me that as they were looking at a ten year development plan for the full site to be completed, they might include some office space in future but at the moment this was the best plan for the site.

They have a proposed time-scale and the developer has the money and as such they just need the planning process to go their way to get started. Those of you that know planning, the site is currently labelled 'green-belt' in the UDP and as such, even if Wakefield Council give it permission it could still get called in by the Secretary of State. That said, I think Wakefield will give it permission, because it is a well thought out scheme and would you turn down the potential for 3000+ local jobs and finally solving the issue of getting Wakefield and the community a new sport stadium for clearly a 'deal' on the land that is not going to cost them or the council tax payer anything in real terms.

If planning goes according to plan they hope to be on site late in the first quarter of 2010 to start the muck-shift and build the new road with the new ground the first structure to be built (clearly Wakefield council will make this a condition of planning and it looks to have already been agreed as part of the deal) and will start on-site in late 2010. The plan is to have the ground fully completed by late 2011 and they did say the plan was to have it's grand-opening as part of a 'festive' fixture with the ground being in full use from the beginning of the 2012 Super League season.

The ground will have an initial capacity of 12,000 with the option to go to 18,000 with an add on structure. The West and East stands (along the touch lines) will be all-seater with both North and South stands (at the ends) standing.

I see (as part of my real job) lots of these scheme and many are a little pie-in-the-sky but I have to say that I was impressed with how well thought out the scheme was and more importantly the developer is looking at a long term return plan for a huge site.

I genuinely do hope the government don't throw a spanner in the works by calling it in but even then I suspect it would just delay things unless they radically asked for the plans to be changed (made smaller really) or rejected it outright.

I would be more than happy to be playing Wakey at their new ground on Boxing Day 2011 and hope that if they do get it done in time, most Rhinos fans (and GH) would feel the same.

Interesting stuff. I would be good to see Wakey get a new ground, it would be a real shame for them to miss out on a franchise because of the state of Belle Vue, they seem to have put a decent team together.

Im sure getting a new ground would give a good boost to attendences for Wakey too, I think Warrington's crowds have improved a lot since they moved to the HJ.

The difference being that Warrington's new ground is actually in Warrington proper, not miles away.
I wish them well but it really is "out of town".

I was pleased that the Thornes Park scheme was dropped as there are plenty of other places in/around Wakefield that could be used.
The old power station site needs to be cleaned-up and re-used at some point and I would have thought that a new ground there would have been perfect.
But that would require joined-up thinking.

If one of the 1st games is to be the Boxing Day game on 2011 or even 12' I'll definitely go since it will then be the nearest SL ground to where I live.
It will have excellent access to the M62 for away fans but will be a major trek for all home fans, probably nearer for Cas & Fev fan(s).
I wonder what the blokes who park on the layby just off the Rothwell junction will think about the increased traffic.

I hope wakey get their new ground, another team that has built from the lower divisions the right way

I also hope they dont need any money from the council, arent they like bradford "we knocked down the town centre and we have no money to build a a new one"



not sure moving "out of town" will be too much trouble, the impression i get is most people take the bus or car to belle vue anyway

Few pictures of the proposed stadium, which i think looks very good: -





Hopefully they will get the ground and the club stays in Super League. Looks very modern, alike to Liegh/Warrington. I assume the added Capacity that can be done is by adding the corners in.

Few more pictures from Wakefield Forum:

You speak some negative rubbish.

Yes, it is out of town, but Belle Vue was not exactly in the town centre, it was still a good 3/4 mile from the edge of town and Kirkgate station well over a mile from Westgate and bus stations. It is also positioned on one of Wakefield's busiest and narrow arterial roads and the bottle-neck caused at Chantry Bridge means it is a nightmare getting to Belle Vue from most parts of Wakefield north of the river. The new ground is closer for people who live in north Wakefield and the three larger suburbs of Stanley, Outwood & Wrenthrope and almost the same distance from Eastmoor as Belle Vue. I suspect that it will be nearer and certainly easier for a larger proportion of current Wakefield residents than Belle Vue currently is.

The old power station site, great idea... NOT! Firstly, who owns that site? Will Wakey have to pay for it? Also, you have exactly the same problem as you have with the Belle Vue, given it is only 1/2 mile further up the road, with the bottle-neck of Chantry Bridge and you now add in the other bottle-neck of the railway bridge just along Doncaster Road! So, do they build a new ring road which would mean a new bridge over the river at Eastmoor or widen Chantry Bridge and build a new railway bridge? Who will pay for that as well!

So picking a site that they have been given, free, gratis, by the council, close to the M62 with access off a dual carriageway with a new purpose built road for the ground and the wider development, paid for by the developer not Wakey or the council, lots of space for parking (800 at the ground itself) a park and ride scheme from the city centre to the ground and the other way during the week for people working in Wakefield... that is not joined up thinking then???

Is this potentially going to be a joint ground with Cas or just for Wakefield? Either way good luck to them and hope it goes through ok. It seems the RFL's threats about stadium standards has worked to some degree!

It looks excellent and I've got a vague picture in my head about where Newmarket colliery was, but to be more precise is it just off the Leeds Rd near the bridge over the M62 ?

I hope it goes ahead without any problems because it certainly seems to tick a lot of boxes.

They have spoke to Castleford and Castleford have rejected the chance, they are now in talks with Featherstone about playing a few of their games at the ground.

Hopefully this will come good because in all fairness the success of their RL teams since JK took over has been getting better and better and as someone else mentioned the playing surface at BV is top quality and hopefully they'll achieve the same at the new ground.

Yes, brings capacity up to 15k and not 18k as I said in my original post. Apparently the Community Foundation would like to find the money to build in the corners straight away, but they do have to find the extra money themselves and the current deal means that they will have the money now, if planning is granted, to build the 12k option straight away.

To answer the other post, the council are not putting any money in at all as such. They have given the Community Foundation the land for nothing and suspect that the deal with the developer is that the council will sell them the land at a reduced market value and then that money is then given by the developer to part fund the stadium.

It is slightly further along near J30 and it is just off Aberford Road, which is the road that links Oulton/Rothwell with Stanley over the M62.

In terms of problems, the issue is planning, but it has to be for the whole development to complete the funding. If they get planning and it does not get called in, they will start on site in April, with the ground itself starting in late 2010.

Got it now - christ those pits took up a lot of room didn't they

Cheers Frosties, hopefully Fev may get involved because I can't see 3 new grounds being built in such close proximity to each other, in fact I'd be amazed if there were 2 never mind 3.

i.e. Walkable for a large number of people.


Give over.
It is a narrow road, I grant you, but I have never had any problems getting there, by car via town (parking the other side of the cemetery) or coming in from the Fev side, or even coming via Durkar, Sandal, Agbrigg way ... or walking from the town centre.


... and therefore further away for everyone else from Manygates, Durkar, Horbury, Ossett, Lupset, Darnley, Agbrigg, Kettlethorpe, Crigglestone etc etc.


I don't.


No idea ... but it can't just be left in a contaminated state, someone must pay for its clean-up anyway ... that's the joined-up thinking bit.

But, anyway, the power station was just one site.


The park and ride sounds a brilliant idea.
Indeed, it's such a good idea that I'm doubtful that Wakefield Council thought of it.

The location will be great for away fans.
Cas fans will almost be able to walk it.

BTW ... You missed one bit from my post ... the bit where I wish them well, I really do.

having seen the plans I withdraw my comments about the town centre, clearly they are building a new town out by the motorway

The site is just up from the road from me and will make perfect sense as Junction 30 is the only undeveloped one from Brighouse to Goole so the land is ripe for some kind of multi-usage.
The one ironic thing is that the newmarket colliery was with the Leeds District until about 15-20 years a go when all of a sudden the boundry was moved from the Moorhouse estate at Stanley and was brought a mile back to the M62!!

Can't argue with that, but your example was Warrington, where they moved the new ground closer to the city centre than Wilderspool



You should try it on a morning or evening then, Chantry Bridge causes Wakefield a real problem and they have just spent millions reconfiguring all the major junctions that converge there, yet again, and it is better but it is still Wakefield's bottle-neck. Not ideal IMO.



Well yeh, that tends to happen when you move something further away from some people and closer to others. I think you are wrong about Ossett BTW, geographically closer, but it is quicker to get to the new site... and why would they go to Belle Vue, they can walk it to Dewsbury Rams from Ossett, far closer!!!



You are entitled to your opinion but why don't you take a look at Google maps and see where the majority of the City of Wakefield population live... would that be north of the river?



Well I can let you into a secret... Wakefield Council or Wakefield Wildcats don't own it. So it is joined up thinking in your book to get someone who does not currently own a site, to buy it, deal with contamination issues and build a ground on it. Yeh, sounds a great idea... shall I tell the Wakefield Council tax paying public or will you do that?

Ok, so what other great sites in the Wakefield District could Wakefield get for free then that are better than this one? You need to be careful not to move to a site west of Belle Vue because that would mean it was getting too close to Dewsbury Rams and east would mean even closer to Featherstone!



Why would it matter if Wakefield Council had or had not thought of it?

Yep, great for away fans and interestingly most Wakey fans think the proposed location is miles better than the current one... traffic problem you see and more of them live on the north side of Wakefield.

Well it's five miles rather than eight from Belle Vue to Cas, so you might have a point but all the Rhinos fans who live in Rothwell, Methley, Woodlesford and Middleton think it is great... they are all closer than Castleford to the new ground. All the Dewsbury fans are gutted though... right hike now!




Yep, that was they only positive point in your post... I believed it... honest!

Closer than HQ for Greg Eastwood,Danny McGuire and Ryan Hall as well!!! They all live in Woodlesford,oh so does Jamie Thackray (The windy f00ker that he is!!)

You are correct it was. The boundary change was hardly all of a sudden though and not without good reason and lots of giving and taking of land between Leeds and Wakefield. They brought the boundary in line with the modern physical boundary created by the M62 along a large stretch of the boundary of Wakefield and Leeds, which was somewhat of a dogs hind-leg really along that edge.

Don't be daft! That would have been the sensible option for two tiny towns within spitting distance of each other covered by the same council. Roma and Lazio did it, Inter and AC did it, but not short-sighted Cas and Wakey. A ground near the M62 between the two towns... what a crazy idea.

Possibly, but Castleford and Featherstone (and they would be two Towns, as opposed to the one City and one Town) are closer together and Dewsbury's Rams built a new ground closer to Wakefield than Wakefield's new ground is to Cas. Do you think Hunslet fans ever wanted to move into Headingley or stay at Ellland Road (although the two sports thing was a problem) because it made sense? Why did Leigh build a new ground rather than move to the Pie Dome... it is only 5 miles away after all?

...because when it all boils down, we are still a little parochial sport where self-interest over-rides the better interest of the sport, and some of those clubs are still run by wealthy local businessmen who forget their business heads when they take on clubs and instead use them as a play-thing, the "local" tag tends to mean that they bring all of their "not over my dead body" attitude to the table when ground-sharing is discussed.

The one interesting thing about this new ground at Wakey is that Maurices plan might be coming to fruition 15 years after he first tried to force it on Wakey/Cas/Fev