Plans to create a 12,000 all-seater stadium for Scunthorpe United as part of the £1.2bn Lincolnshire Lakes development have been officially approved.
The new £25m stadium, to be built on a 60-acre site on the west side of the M181, could be ready for Scunthorpe United to move in for the start of the 2017-18 season.
The mixed-use development also includes a 94 bedroom hotel, gymnasium, outdoor training football pitch, office space, new site access roads, car parking and associated infrastructure and landscaping.
PWA Planning developed and submitted the planning application and Environmental Statement in partnership with architecture practice FWP. The application was provisionally approved in April 2015, subject to a number of outstanding planning issues being resolved.
PWA has been working with a number of parties, including Highways England and the Environment Agency, to address these concerns and the scheme has now been approved by North Lincolnshire Council.
Paul Walton, a director of Lancashire planning consultants PWA Planning, said: “This was a project where we worked to a tight timescale, leading complex negotiations with the local authority and other agencies and consultants to achieve a planning consent.
“It demonstrates our ability to manage technically challenging planning applications for large schemes where issues such as Environmental Impact Assessment, archaeological surveys, major highways issues and flood risk have to be addressed.”
The new stadium will replace Glanford Park as the home of the Irons. The stadium is expected to create between 500 and 700 jobs in construction and future use.
The stadium is part of wider plans for a business park, sports lake, leisure facilities and more than 6,000 homes in five new villages on the Lincolnshire Lakes development which is being led by developer Lucent.
The council has reached agreement in principle with Highways England to construct a new junction from the M181 into the stadium.
Council leader Baroness Liz Redfern said: “The new football stadium will act as a catalyst for the whole of the Lincolnshire Lakes project and will set the scene for further development at this site.
“We have been working closely with Scunthorpe United and everyone involved to progress these exciting plans. Today signifies a major milestone and means we can now move forward with plans to build this fantastic venue for football fans.”
Scunthorpe United chairman, Peter Swann, said: “I am delighted to be at this stage and the continued work and help by the council, in getting to this point, has been invaluable.
“We are at the beginning of a hugely exciting period for Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire, one which will help to define the area and provide some of the finest football and sports facilities in the country.”
