Rose Bowl's Boost from Eastleigh Council

By keithhouse | Tuesday, December 08, 2009, 16:45

The Rose Bowl has become part of Hedge End and West End life in recent years, hosting not just cricket but community events and a range of pop and music events.

Rose Bowl at Night

But life does not stand still in cricket and to get the best chance of winning Test matches, and perhaps even the Ashes, in the future, the Rose Bowl worked up plans to make the venue one of the very best in the country. Their investment plans for new stands, a four-star hotel wrapped round part of the ground overlooking the wicket, modern media suite and golf course, total £48 million, all designed to come to fruition over the next two years.

That's when the credit-crunch broke and banks stopped lending. Eastleigh Borough Council, like other local authorities, still has access to borrowing and so has put together a plan, working with the Rose Bowl, to develop and own the hotel part of the complex, leased on to the Hilton Group as a hotel and conference facility.

The arrangement guarantees that the exciting proposals can be developed and is on a fully commercial basis. It means that as landowner not only with the Borough have a major investment in a world-class facility, it will generate income to the Council to help protect services and keep Council Tax to local residents down.

It is estimated that the project will have a total economic impact of up to £20 million each year, create over 200 jobs, and secure additional Test and other International Cricket over the coming years.

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Comments

I have just been reading about Southampton Corporation Tramways. Specifically, how the surplus from that operation went into the rate relief fund. Nothing wrong with that prinicple. It is exactly as things should be. Taxpayers were reaping the rewards of their investment...

So if Eastleigh Council now has a stake in the Rose bowl and its Hotels etc, I hope it will retain that stake so that we taxpayers will also reap the benefit of this investment over the longer-term. My fear though, is that the stake will be sold-off a.s.a.p., particularly if the Tories ever gain control of Eastleigh, so that the only people who benefit from my investment in the Rose Bowl (via Council Tax) over the longer-term will be, er, a select few Tories...!

By TGRWorzel at 20:36 on 09/12/09
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