I WOULD like to applaud Saints RLFC, St Helens Town, Liverpool St Helens, the boxing club and any other party on the formation of the sporting club St Helens. I would also like to applaud Saints on their plans for the new community based stadium to be built at UG. The actual design for the stadium, plus its outlying facilities look second to none. I also applaud that the board should make it a flat fee to sit or stand.

However, this new development is meant to be one "for the community". This infers that the views of the community are taken into consideration at all times. The proposed development ignores the views of the majority on the very thorny and much talked about topic of terracing at the new ground. As the proposals stand there will be provision for 4000 in each corner. I have heard that of the 5,000 questionnaires sent out to the public (of which I never saw one presented on a match day), 500 were returned. Of these 500, there was a 60/40 per cent split in favour of terracing at the ground. Surely this must mean in a 19,000 capacity "community stadium" there should be provision for 11,400 seats.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. On the ISSA website, an opinion poll suggests 70 per cent of fans would prefer one side of the ground terraced (the other 30 suggest both ends). The current proposal for 4000, 1000 in each corner is clearly inadequate to the desires of the matchgoing public in both terms of position and size.

It is not even illegal for Premier League football clubs to use terracing and more than 50 per cent of the clubs further down the divisions have terracing. Short of St Helens Town being promoted to the Premier League, any terracing becoming closed is highly unlikely. If the board have serious concerns about this then they should develop the side opposite the main stand to the same dimensions as if seats were needed and place the seats there in the event of them ever being needed and not before.

By only using the corners of the ground, the board will be splitting up its most vocal, loyal supporters. It will alienate them further from the board. If the plans do go ahead in their current form, I would think that the terraced sections of the ground will become full before the seating, and in a crowd of 8,000 as there was for the Salford match, the ground will look empty. For all the people who doubt my arguments on the grounds of safety, I have never ever felt unsafe at Knowsley Road, even at the back of the popular side in capacity crowds. For any who would feel than many more seats would be an improvement, ask any Wigan fan who used to stand what they think of the JJB Stadium and they will tell you that they preferred the freedom to stand and the atmosphere created by it. The gates at Wigan have declined since their move.

I would implore all the Saints supporters who agree with my view, whether regular or irregular match visitors to protest to every available body that has any influence over the club. Get on the ISSA website or contact them, their stance is admirable.

I would not expect the club to bend to the efforts of the supporters on this. However, the council has the final say on this development. I know this letter expresses the views of thousands , do not let yourselves down. Supporter apathy in the past has let the club ignore its fans. Please do not stand by and let a development which is great in its ideas be spoilt because of one design flaw.

Stephen Deslandes, Andrew Avenue, Billinge