Leamington FC chairman hails council's decision to progress new stadium plans
Leamington FC’s chairman Jim Scott has hailed the decision made by Warwick District Council to move forward with plans to build a new stadium for the club.
Last night (Wednesday September 3), Warwick District Councillors agreed to move the plans for the 4,000-capacity football stadium on land adjacent to Europa Way and Gallows Hill a step closer to becoming a reality.
The stadium would include a 3G artificial pitch, conference facilities, a café and community facilities.
The proposals would provide a much-needed new home and asset for Leamington FC to expand their football teams and provide a range of classes and educational activities for the local community and schools.
The scheme would also include 85 homes, with 40 per cent being in the ‘affordable’ bracket, and up to 12 small commercial units to support local employment and foot and cycle access links feeding into others around the district.
Jim Scott, Leamington FC’s chairman, said: “I’m delighted that a major step forward has been taken towards the delivery of a new stadium for the club at the heart of the community.
From a club perspective, the Community Stadium will provide a sustainable future through new opportunities to engage with our supporters and increased accessibility for the community than our current out-of-town location.
"We already do a lot of work within the local area through our charitable arm the Brakes Community Foundation.
“The Community Stadium’s enhanced facilities will enable us to greatly build upon our work in delivering benefits to the local community.
"We look forward to working closely with Warwick District Council to continue to move the project forward and deliver a stadium we can all be proud of, in line with expectations of budget and timing”.
At the meeting of the district council’s cabinet last night, members agreed to progress the plans to RIBA stage 4 - ‘to seek planning permission for the development of a design specification and indicative budget to support the decision on whether to proceed with the build of the
stadium’.
The council’s chief executive Chris Elliott said: “I’m really pleased to see this project move forward following our cabinet meeting last night.
"A new stadium and sports hub has the potential to be a great asset for the district, providing benefits for the health, fitness and well-being of our residents.
“We realise that there have been questions raised about the timing of this project, and we’re now at a significant point where the Council is investing to take the scheme to get planning permission.
"This involves a lot of preparation but will provide the council and the club with greater certainty about the cost and the programme.
"We’re being deliberately cautious given our experience with other major investment projects – Abbey Fields, for example, has taken five years to get to its planned opening in 2026 - but rest assured the council and the club are working together to move this forward as quickly as possible.
“We’ll now progress the planning application to seek planning permission, validate cost estimates and ensure we work towards delivering the
greatest value for the significant investment in the project, which councillors will need for the next stage of their decision-making.”
More on the meeting, for which a report is available to view online here: https://tinyurl.com/3sdf3xza , will follow.