Council backs £1m plans for Wisbech stadium

COUNCIL officials announced today (Wed) they are backing the £1 million new stadium for Wisbech Town Football Club. A report to next Monday s meeting of the development control committee of West Norfolk Borough Council will recommend agreeing to the contr

COUNCIL officials announced today (Wed) they are backing the £1 million new stadium for Wisbech Town Football Club.

A report to next Monday's meeting of the development control committee of West Norfolk Borough Council will recommend agreeing to the controversial new stadium complex on an eight acre site on the Lynn Road.

Officials have recommended approval in the face of opposition from some of their own planners who feel the site is inappropriate for such large scale development.

The recommendation "would completely go against" the council's own guidelines, says a planning policy report.

However Keith Wilkinson, chief planning officer, says there are no more central sites for the development, the location is accessible, and there was an obvious need for the new stadium.

He said car sales, a farm shop, a nursery, carpet warehouse, industrial units and a transport depot already litter the Lynn Road "which therefore has a character of pockets of sporadic housing and commercial uses, some of which are significant in scale."

The committee will be told that the application has attracted 13 letters of support and 54 letters of objection.

Even if the committee backs the approval recommendation, the final decision rests with the Secretary of State because of the nature of the scheme.