Safe Standing plan moves forward

Trust chair Tim Hartley received this email from Jon Darch, Rail Seating Project Manager, Bristol Sport

It was a shame you were unable to attend the unveiling of the rail seats at Ashton Gate.

A good fifty or so, plus perhaps 30 media, did attend and got to see the rail seats first hand and hear from Bristol Sport chairman Martin Griffiths, John Leech MP and others about the benefits that we believe this new form of spectator accommodation will bring. The rail seats will be in situ now for the next 18 months, so if during that time you or any colleagues would like to come to Bristol to see them, please just get in touch and we can agree a date and time: that’s what they’re there for – to educate and inform.

In the meantime, please find several pictures of the small block of 33 rail seats in this album:

https://tinyurl.com/ch7zzmx

If you want to explain to anyone how the seats were installed, then please also share this video freely:

https://youtu.be/uiZAZwG7_jQ

A five-minute version with real-time shots and a narrative explaining what is going on will be available shortly.

We still have one or two regulatory hoops to jump through before we can definitely confirm that the rail seats will be installed in the redeveloped Ashton Gate, but we are very hopeful that we will be able to do so, thus providing the option to offer standing accommodation or to operate in all-seater configuration, as required by the rules and regulations for the respective sport/event being staged.

All being well, therefore, the first areas of rail seats for actual use rather than just for demonstration purposes should open at the ground in August 2015.