Harrogate Town has submitted major new plans to redevelop its Wetherby Road ground.
The club has until April 30, 2024 to provide a capacity of 5,000 fans with a minimum of 2,000 seats to comply with English Football League membership criteria.
It currently caters for 5,000 fans but only has 1,000 seats.
Planning documents published today by Harrogate Borough Council reveal the club has applied to convert the Black Sheep and Myrings standing terraces to seated areas, providing 603 seats.
It also intends to demolish the 1919 venue and construct a new 1919 terrace with seating, a spectator refreshment area and toilets.
The club also wants to install ball stop netting and has submitted a separate planning application for a temporary marquee containing a refreshment bar.
David Smith, associate director of planning consultants WSP, which is acting on behalf of the club, said in a letter to the council:
“The proposed works will provide additional seating and spectator facilities for existing fans.
“The new spectator facility will encourage away fans to get to the ground earlier on match days and ease congestion immediately before kick-off.
“As such, the proposals will not give rise to any significant traffic congestion and road safety problems.
The club needs to create another 1,000 more seats.
The club previously applied to build a new, bigger South Stand.
Mr Smith’s letter said:
“This further application proposes an alternative, less disruptive and more efficient means of achieving the EFL requirement.
“There will be less demolition of existing buildings and a quicker construction programme with this proposal.
“This proposal will also help improve the match day experience. The proposal will mark an important step in the on-going success of the club.”
Read more:
- Temporary bar to open at Harrogate Town in fortnight
- Final appeal for donations towards £10k cost of Harrogate bonfire
‘Aim to start in December’
The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate Town, which secured promotion from the National League to the EFL for the first time in the club’s history in 2020, how much the project will cost and when it hopes work will take place.
A club spokesman said:
“Cost – we don’t know as yet, we are still working through the preliminary work but needed to get the application through early to reach the target date for having 2,000 seats.
“We aim to start in December/January time subject to planning and be ready for the start of season 2023 though we may still have some internal works to finish.”
We also asked how the club will handle the disruption on match days and what happens if the club, which is currently 21st of 24 in division two of the English Football League, gets relegated.
The spokesman said:
“No plans to move any games, work can be done in between games and facilities may be affected on match days at the away end but suitable provisions will be made if that’s the case.
“The plans will progress as we are aiming to improve facilities and match day experience for our loyal supporters and we have more families visiting us now to cater for, plus we hope to attract more first generation fans as we grow.”
