HP parking closing after Arsenal game

[Royal_Warrior]

http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/pa ... 58,00.html

[Schards#2]

Oh.....my....god

Unless the bus services are quadrupled, there's going to be carnage.

[Huntley & Palmer]

Why, oh why they don't sort something with Green Park is beyond me

[Dirk Gently]

Why, oh why they don't sort something with Green Park is beyond me

By god they've been trying. The problem is not RFC, it's the attitude of the Green Park bigwigs who don't want their nice clean business park sullied by nasty, rough, dirty football supporters.

[SWLR]

Anyone know why it is closing?

[Dirk Gently]

HP are vacating and so the office will be empty.

That means that get to claim massive rebates off their business rates (or whatever they're called these days), and this rebate will be invalidated if the premises are used for any purposes.

Or not - Reading Borough Council have verbally said that this is not the case and so parking could go on, but as they've not thought this important enough to confirm it in writing HP won't take the risk!

[Tennents Super]

Anyone know why it is closing?

They're turning it into a 1950's tower block.

[cheeryoleary]

I've often though about a protest outside of the main entrance of Green Park.

Some campaigns like Stand Up Sit Down don't interest me however one that directly improves my day out at the Mad Stad would.

[Man Friday]

I can hardly believe this. The statement on the Reading FC Official Site is eerily calm in its reporting of this. Let no one be under any illusion, currently thousands upon thousands of people in thousands of vehicles use this facility so the impact of this will be immense.

[TFF]

...and Spurs is a lunchtime kick off. I'm sure many of their fans will drive the short journey to Reading. Chaos awaits.

Perhaps our first delayed kick off of the season?

[Huntley & Palmer]

Why, oh why they don't sort something with Green Park is beyond me

By god they've been trying. The problem is not RFC, it's the attitude of the Green Park bigwigs who don't want their nice clean business park sullied by nasty, rough, dirty football supporters.

I assumed they had but you would have though the cash incentive for an empty retail park would be enough for them to jump at it.

[CocoPops]

And I can't believe that RFC are not adding to the carpark as part of the stadium expansion!!!

Sheer bloody mindedness if they really think they will get everyong onto the already overcrowded buses!!

It's gonna be chaos for the first few matches after it closes.

[Royal Lady]

It was chaos round H&P car park for the Chelsea game, I expect more of the same on Sunday.

[Royal Fleet]

And I can't believe that RFC are not adding to the carpark as part of the stadium expansion!!!

I think that they have to be realistic about this. There is no way they could substantially add to the parking on-site without adding to the access roads as well. It takes an hour to get out of the carpark as it is.

[Schards#2]

Either the club or the council have to do something here. It's chaos at the moment and another 2,000 odd car parking places are about to disappear.

Where are these cars going to go? There is nowhere that can accomodate them and no suggestion of public transport improving. The club and the council can't just sit on their hands and see what happens because all hell's going to break loose in Whitley and right along the A33 where cars will end up just being dumped.

[dangermouse]

Either the club or the council have to do something here. It's chaos at the moment and another 2,000 odd car parking places are about to disappear.

Where are these cars going to go? There is nowhere that can accomodate them and no suggestion of public transport improving. The club and the council can't just sit on their hands and see what happens because all hell's going to break loose in Whitley and right along the A33 where cars will end up just being dumped.

900 according to the OS.

[West Stand Man]

And I can't believe that RFC are not adding to the carpark as part of the stadium expansion!!!

Sheer bloody mindedness if they really think they will get everyong onto the already overcrowded buses!!

It's gonna be chaos for the first few matches after it closes.

Again, I suspect you will find that they would if they could. The original plans for the stadium included a much bigger car park - but the council kept the size down because they didn't want all that space sitting idle in between matches (I am led to believe).

Mind you. A bigger stadium car park is not the solution as it will still have to empty via the narrow roads that are already clogged by the current car park. What is needed is more P&R or Park and Walk. An ideal spot would be on the 3 Mile Cross side of the M'way so that traffic is taken away from Reading when it leaves the M4.

Similarly, Green Park is not a realistic option as it also uses the same 2 exit roads onto the A33. If it had direct access to the M4, or the 'back road' through Burghfield it might be quite useful.

[Wycombe Royal]

And I can't believe that RFC are not adding to the carpark as part of the stadium expansion!!!

It's simple - there is no land there to expand on.

[STAR Liaison]

Where are these cars going to go? There is nowhere that can accomodate them and no suggestion of public transport improving. The club and the council can't just sit on their hands and see what happens because all hell's going to break loose in Whitley and right along the A33 where cars will end up just being dumped.

The club has been working very hard to get other places to park and are quite close to getting several but none are at a state to announce yet. Having had a long talk on this subject at the stadium expansion exhibition I can assure you that there are other good ideas in the pipeline but they all take a long time to get to fruition, getting verbal agreement is often months or years from the final implementation.

Having heard the Berkshire Traffic man after the Man city game saying that the HP car park is the biggest bottleneck it may, in the long run, be a blessing in disguise that it is closing. At least the J11 roundabout may not gridlock so easily (traffic lights excepted as one who has seen it completely locked up without the help of football traffic ).

Don't know what the council is doing but I doubt that they want the traffic chaos either, bad for votes you know

Yet again can I point out that the car park at Christ the King school is still not full (or was not as of last Thursday anyway) contact us at the STAR base if you are interested.

[Hoop Blah]

I've never had problem parking but from the stories on here there are plenty of unused paces at some of the other car parks in the area.

The club are not at fault for things outside of their control. Yes they could probably do with improving the road layout around the stadium and increasing the stadium car park but if thats at the expence of other club budgets I'd rather they concentrate on the playing staff thanks.

People seem to expect far to much to be done for them these days. The club provide a team and a stadium to watch them in. If you can't be bothered to sort out your own arrangements for getting to and from the ground in comfort and safety then I'd suggest you spend yout time elsewhere.