Rodney Parade Stadium Regeneration
Newport Rugby Club and Newport Gwent Dragons announce today (Wednesday 28 May) that they have delivered all necessary documentation to Newport City Council to support the planning application of the stadium redevelopment.
The documents provide the necessary information to support the planning application submitted late last month for the regeneration of their Rodney Parade stadium into a 15,000 capacity facility with 13,000 seats.
City Council planners are able formally to register the application and start their process to consider the scheme’s merits and make recommendations to the Council’s Planning Committee and, once registration is complete, the council will notify local people and others to invite comments as part of the statutory consultation process.
Chairman of Newport Rugby Club, Will Godfrey, is delighted that we have reached this stage in the process. He said:
“We are delighted to have reached yet another milestone in the process of bringing a 21st century stadium to Newport. Shortly, people in Newport will be invited to give their views on the proposals and we obviously hope that many will formally register their support by writing or emailing the Council accordingly.”
The planning process should take no longer than three months once registration of the application is completed so we hope that the Planning Committee will agree the scheme and give us the green light to proceed. Chairman of Newport Gwent Dragons, Martyn Hazell added:
“If all goes well we hope to be starting construction on Phase One of the scheme later this year but there is a long way to go and a lot of preparatory work to do yet.”
The plan is to complete the first phase which includes the student accommodation in time for the start of the 2010/11 academic year when the new University of Wales campus opens in the centre of the city.
The complete rebuilding of the stadium itself is funded by other community and commercial facilities proposed as part of the overall scheme.
During the consultation undertaken by the Stadium Regeneration Team of architects, planners and other experts there was particular interest in the community centre and other facilities proposed within the scheme. Victoria ward is an area much in need of such facilities.
Chief Executive, Gethin Jenkins said:
“We already work with schools in the local community but the new facilities planned will enable us to achieve a great deal more and we are very excited about the opportunities the new stadium presents in this respect.”
All of the plans and the supporting information will be available to the public once the City Council registers the planning application but the information will be placed on the websites of Newport Rugby Club and Newport Gwent Dragons at the end of this week.
