Whenever I see on the telly top-rank rugby matches and top-league football matches I look carefully at their pitches, their stadiums, or see ambitious schemes for rebuilding, for example recently in Bristol. Some of these can obviously do full justice to the most important events, but some equally obviously are far from being "world-class".
While I can understand Bath Rugby's desire to create a "world-class stadium", I do wonder how this could ever be achieved on the extremely restricted area available: its width, hemmed in by the Leisure Centre, will always be a serious hindrance, always result in a mean pitch area, always be hampered by the absurdity of having every year to remove so much seating; never satisfactory access for a greatly increased number of spectators through the existing narrow roads of a historic city or down tortuous stairs.
There is a grotesque shortage of parking at all times, not just with major events, or when two coincide, or during the tourist season.
The current application refers to the problems even for this temporary arrangement, but at the moment offers no solution to the car parking and other serious problems, just "monitoring", so that we can suffer a new extreme of gridlock hell, but how much more for a "world-class stadium". How long, indeed, will the Rugby Football Union's patience last?
Why do Bath Rugby go on struggling with the impossible? What sort of real return would it give for the expenditure of a huge sum of money which could give them, somewhere else (perhaps on land the Club already owns), a true "world-class stadium" with generous pitch area, fine access, and all that parking and other desirable or necessary facilities? Why go on trying to force, not the traditional quart, but a whole gallon into this pint pot?
Stephen Marks
Cleveland Walk
Bath