Portsmouth chief with Fratton Park expansion latest amid long-running footbridge saga
The Fratton footbridge feasibility study was commission in the summer of 2024
Pompey’s North Stand vision is expected to become clearer in ‘early summer’ after the much-anticipated feasibility study was asked to be recosted.
The interim report detailing the financing required for a new Fratton footbridge has disappointed the stakeholders who commissioned it in mid-2024, with Blues chief executive Andy Cullen describing figures as ‘extraordinarily high’.
As a consequence, the team behind the feasibility study have been instructed to find ways to reduce costs before presenting it once more.
Pompey, Portsmouth City Council, Network Rail, South Western Railway and Pompey Centre owners Redevco all possess an interest in the outcome of the long-running footbridge wrangle.
Certainly in Pompey’s case, their proposed North Stand expansion is reliant on a satisfactory resolution with all stakeholders in terms of funding the construction of a new footbridge from Fratton station.
Yet the wait continues, with the feasibility study due to be resubmitted.
‘We have asked for those costs to be reengineered’
Cullen told The News: ‘This is not an exclusive football project, it involves the city council, the Pompey Centre, Network Rail and South Western Railway. We are all stakeholders in the project.
‘We have received an interim report, the team running the feasibility study have reported back. The costs for the bridge are extraordinarily high - and we have asked for those costs to be reengineered.
‘When the final report actually comes back depends on if they have exhausted every possibility. It will show the various options as to where the bridge can go from the station, where it lands and how much it costs.
‘I would expect we will have a final indication of that probably over the course of the early summer.
‘Everything will depend on who is going to fund the bridge. Certainly this project cannot come exclusively on Portsmouth Football Club, we are all stakeholders in regenerating this area, which a new bridge would bring to us.
‘For the football club, it will allow us to unlock the potential of the land and, ultimately, increase capacity. For the city, it unlocks more housing, it allows more people to travel into this part of the city, it boosts jobs, it boosts houses.
‘It’s important to the Pompey Centre in terms of their own development plans, while it’s hugely important for central government in terms of the government agenda unlocking planning to boost homes and to boost jobs.
‘As I have always said, we are very much trying to drive it forward, but we’ve had really good support from the MPs and the city council. Everyone is on board with what we are trying to do.
‘But in order to deliver the footbridge which is essential to unlocking the area in the Portsmouth Local Plan, everybody needs to have a really, really close look as to how it’s going to be funded - and that responsibility doesn't fall exclusively on Portsmouth Football Club.
‘In the early summer we will get an indication as to where it is. I don’t know whether it will be a yes or no in terms of where we go next should it be a significant cost.’
710 new homes, commercial outlets and a hotel
The North Stand expansion is in line with Portsmouth City Council’s pre-submission Local Plan from July 2024, which details development plans for the entire Pompey Centre area.
Pompey’s overall proposals also include 710 new homes, ‘small-scale’ commercial outlets and a hotel - yet an upgrade in public transport linking the area is regarded as critical.
Tornante commissioned and funded the feasibility study along with Portsmouth City Council and Pompey Centre owners Redevco, who are all eager for a resolution.
Cullen added: ‘The North Stand is certainly part of our vision and ambition to increase capacity. We have a number of people on the waiting list, so we can show there’s interest, while we’re trying to develop our non-matchday revenue, which a new stand would unlock.
‘It’s not just about the North Stand, it’s what we can do with the whole land as well. That is hugely important to us and how it can potentially generate increased revenue, which becomes incredibly important to our Squad Cost Limit (SCL) calculations.
‘Looking at other areas of the ground where we can get extra seats, there are parts of the corner, there is some potential in other parts of the stadium as well, but you are talking minimal number of seats. Maybe a couple of hundred here or a couple of hundred there, it’s not huge.
‘The other thing I am also mindful of is I know the cost of the stand - and another 5,000 seats would only give us an additional £2m of revenue a year.
‘So, when you start to look at the economics of it, you need that entire development to make it work. It’s not just about capacity, it’s about what else you can do in that stand to generate revenue - and what you can do on the land behind it to generate revenue.’