Case against Falmer

While 68 per cent of people who voted in the 1999 referendum supported Falmer as the new home for the Albion, local residents were strongly opposed to the project.

They were worried about "extensive environmental damage" and said a stadium at Falmer would be an unwanted blemish on their countryside, raising serious transport problems the area is not capable of meeting.

Falmer Parish Council was the most vocal opponent of the plans and built a powerful body of opposition, including East Sussex County Council, Lewes District Council, The Society of Sussex Downsmen, The South Downs Conservation Board and Friends of the Earth.

The parish council said Falmer was the cheap option and wanted alternative sites to be considered, particularly brownfield sites in Brighton and Hove.

Objections at a glance

1. The eight acre Falmer site is too small - the old Goldstone ground was ten acres while the current Withdean stadium is 14.6 acres.
2. A stadium at Falmer would cause irreparable damage to the downland environment.
3. The site is in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).
4. A stadium at Falmer is against government planning policies for this AONB.
5. It would generate major dangerous car travel and traffic problems on the busy, adjacent A27 trunk road.
6. Its size, traffic and the crowds involved would generate visual, light, noise and air pollution.
7. It has inadequate, one-road (A27) access.
8. Both universities have refused use of their parking facilities for stadium use.
9. Public transport cannot overcome car use and the major parking problems at Falmer.
10. Falmer's small, rural rail station is totally inadequate for the number of stadium visitors that would be involved.
11. The stadium proposed would be a high risk financial venture for any council, university or other "partners" involved.
12. If a stadium is required, there are more suitable alternative sites in terms of benefit to the local economy, jobs, transport etc.
13. Falmer does not need another sports hall. It already has more publicly available sports hall accommodation than the rest of Brighton and Hove put together.
14. Any new facilities should be built in the town area requiring them.
15. Falmer is already an "area for all". Thousands of visitors a year come to Falmer to enjoy the village and the local downs. Their leisure would be ruined by a stadium and its impact.
16. The high excavation of the downs required to level the site could seriously affect the water table in the area and cause flooding of the adjacent rail line and A27.
17. The employment opportunities for a stadium would be the same wherever it was built. The community facilities linked to a stadium could be provided without a stadium.