Leamington Football Club's cautious optimism as stadium plans are submitted
The proposals have been in the pipeline since 2014
Progress on plans to build a new stadium for Leamington Football Club has been met with cautious optimism.
A planning application for 85 new flats and a 4,000-capacity stadium at Fusiliers Way, Warwick, are now live on Warwick District Council’s planning portal with images bringing to life the vision for the club's new home.
The application seeks full permission for the new ground and outline permission for the mixed-use commercial and residential buildings that will include the one and two-bedroom flats to the rear of the two ends of the stadium.
The stadium itself will include community facilities.
Proposals have been in the pipeline since 2014 with funding constraints holding back the project as recently as 2022 but the council last year committed to getting the project as far as RIBA stage four – the technical design stage that precedes the appointment of contractors.
The timing of funding and project management capacity concerns have contributed to a revised target move-in date of between 2029 and 2031, although the most pressing timescale is likely to be the appointment of contractors before the district council loses outright control of decisions on major projects due to local government reorganisation – a process that is set to abolish Warwickshire’s current council set up by April 2029.
The submission of the planning application seeks approval for the concept design – RIBA stage three – with the added detail following so contractors can tender to take forward the project subject to agreements with the football club and adequate funding, from council and external sources, being signed off.
Long-serving Brakes chairman Jim Scott is understandably keen not to get carried away but it is another step towards a dream that could unleash the club’s potential – particularly off the pitch.
The location of and facilities at the club’s base out at Harbury Lane limit the scope of its community arm Brakes Community Foundation, a charity that delivers sports and physical activity sessions in nine schools and to more than 2,000 participants per week, including disability and inclusive football, school, holiday camps and the ‘Brake Out’ social inclusion programmes in Lillington and Sydenham.
“I see it as a positive step,” said Mr Scott.
“Clearly there is still a lot of work to be done to reach the point where the council can make decisions but this is a project with immense community benefit in terms of health and wellbeing.
“This could be a significant community asset as well as supporting Leamington Football Club, we would be able to expand our community offering by three or four times.
“We have always delivered community benefit, including launching our community foundation during Covid. That is what we are as a football club, we believe in it and that is as important to us as sustaining the football club.
“The two things go hand in glove and those opportunities would be so much greater at a new facility.”
Decisions on the more detailed plans and how they are to be funded are set to be taken by the district’s cabinet – the panel of councillors in charge of major service areas – during the early part of 2027.