Braintree Town have unveiled a further series of ground improvements to their Cressing Road ground as they strive to ensure that the club would be eligible to remain in the Blue Square Premier should they be promoted in the future.
The two teams promoted to the Blue Square Premier Division at the end of each season must have the full FA 'B' grading in place by 31 Match and then only have a further twelve months, until the following 31 March, to complete any upgrades necessary to secure The Football Association's 'A' grading.
One of the important improvements Braintree Town have to complete to achieve the 'A' grading is to increase the number of operational turnstiles at their Cressing Road stadium from the existing six to eight. One of the methods of calculating a stadium's capacity is the number of turnstiles. For the purposes of calculating the entry capacity, the upper limit is set at 660 persons per turnstile (or other entry point) per hour. The 'A' grade requires a capacity of 4,000 with the potential to increase to 5,000 and The FA state that there must be at least 8 spectator entrances to control the ingress of spectators.
The Club's thinking at this time is that the two new turnstiles and a new set of exit gates would be positioned to the Quag End side of the main stand. Adjacent to these new turnstiles and gates the Club are planning to put new toilet facilities for both men and women in place, together with space allocated for a mobile catering unit when that part of the ground is segregated.
To provide access to and from these new turnstiles and exit gates it is the Club's intention to provide a new two-metre wide walkway behind the main stand that will also act as hard standing for those spectators that wish to watch the games on the Club's second pitch. This will then allow the Club to segregate the ground more readily, with the designated area for the visitors likely to be the terrace to the right of the main stand and, if necessary, the Quag End. The Club are also looking at the possibility of increasing the capacity of the Quag End of the ground. The idea at this time is to demolish the existing structure and replace it with a new terrace, similar in design and style to that at the Club End of the ground, but increased to the full width of the 18-yard box and twice as deep. This would increase the capacity of the ground to some 4,500.
The Club are also looking at its floodlighting system. The existing system was erected 42 years ago and gives a lux of just over the required 250, but a new lighting system is one of the ground improvements that could be initiated at Cressing Road and then taken to a new stadium in the future. The other items the Club are currently reviewing are as follows:
- new hospitality room to rear of stand;
- surfacing of parking for cars and coaches;
- installation of CCTV system;
- installation of crush barriers;
- provision of stadium control room;
- work on existing terraces and walkways around the pitch;
- pitch perimeter barriers;
- improvements to dressing rooms;
- additional toilets for spectators, including facilities for people with disabilities;
- upgrade emergency stadium lighting;
- computerised systems to monitor turnstiles;
- provision of first-aid room;
- upgrade to public announcement system;
- new dressing room for female match officials;
- stadium segregation gates; and
- upgrade of stewards' radios.
The Club are currently liaising with contractors and hope to be in a position to lodge a planning application with Braintree District Council for certain improvements early in the New Year. The Club are also looking at options for funding the improvements.
Chairman Lee Harding explained: "Planning for our progress off the pitch is just as important as the planning for what happens on it. We have an inspection visit from The Football Association's ground grading inspectors just before Christmas to ensure that we have maintained our full 'B' grade and to advise us what will be necessary to achieve an 'A' grade. There is no point in our working towards promotion to the Blue Square Premier if we do not have the facilities in place to allow us to stay there. The sale of the two-thirds of an acre of the Club's site in 2007 provided revenue to complete improvements to our Cressing Road ground that allowed us to obtain our 'B' grade. This has allowed us to remain at Blue Square South level, following our promotion from the Ryman League as champions in 2006. It also allows us to be promoted to the Blue Square Premier, if and when the opportunity comes, but we do need to spend up to £600,000 on further improvements to allow us to remain at that higher level.
The past three seasons have seen us reach the end of season promotion play-offs twice and we go into the Christmas programme in fourth place following Tuesday evening's 2-0 victory over Bath City. We're not taking anything for granted, but if we were to win our games in hand over the sides immediately above us we could be second. Leaders Newport County are have a good season to date, but I know that our Manager Robbie Garvey has not yet given up hope of challenging for the top spot. More so as we are yet to play the Welsh side home or away this season and Newport County are to come to Cressing Road for our last game! The latest set of ground improvements would upgrade our Cressing Road stadium further to meet the entry requirements for the Football League. Despite that, we remain committed to relocating to a new stadium and still have hopes that this could become reality in the next three to five years.
We're obviously biased, but we do regard the progress the Football Club has made over the past five years as a Braintree success story. I believe that this progress has been recognised by Braintree District Council, as they have included a commitment to relocation as part of their Draft Core Strategy for the future of the town. The Board have committed to introducing a further £60,000 next year and we will be talking with the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, who could give us a grant of up to £150,000, but that obviously leaves a shortfall. So we have recently had a series of meetings with Braintree District Council and have written to Cllr Graham Butland, the Leader of the Council, to seek his help, advice and guidance on securing a grant from our local authority towards the cost. It is early days in our discussions on the way forward, but we have been encouraged by the fact that our initial enquiries about help from Braintree District Council have not been dismissed out of hand. We're putting in all we can to make it happen at the Club, but we could do with some help from the town we are proud to represent."
