As spotted by Christian James, the club recently submitted revised plans for the South Stand. These plans have been approved without further consultation with the community or planning officers as it was felt the proposed amendments were in keeping with the original purpose of the existing, approved plans.
The amendments mainly focus on the community sports facilities, the biggest change being the removal of the climbing wall. This will be replaced by a soft play area and a slightly larger cafe to serve the 3G pitches. The direct link between the West Stand and gym/dance studio has now been removed, presumably to bring down costs.
The biggest change from a matchday point of view is the addition of a new supporters’ bar to alleviate the queues seen in Ellenders. I think this is an excellent idea as Ellenders really does get annoyingly busy on popular matchdays.
The new stand will now have a smaller capacity than originally planned, down from 750 to 630. The reason for this is the inclusion of seating. Although this brings the overall capacity of the stadium down from 5223 to 5103, it actually frees up seats in the West Stand that would otherwise have been occupied by away fans, so this slightly increases the capacity of the stadium for home fans.
Hopefully now the plans have been approved we will see construction start next year!
