Forest Green Rovers’ wooden stadium plans rejected

Article posted by Coliseum, June 14^th, 2019

Image: Zaha Hadid Architects

Plans for Forest Green Rovers‘ new 5,000-seater all-wooden stadium have been refused after BBC reported it was “not sustainable”.

The League Two football club, based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, hoped to get outline approval at a Stroud District Council meeting on June 12, but councillors voted against building the ground by a majority of three.
District council officers had recommended the stadium, made entirely of wood, be approved to be built on land near junction 13 of the M5.

Seven councillors voted to refuse the stadium, designed by world renowned architect Zaha Hadid, and four voted against.

Forest Green Rovers‘ chairman Dale Vince said he was “disappointed” and the fans would be “devastated”.

Councillors on the authority’s development control committee were being recommended to approve the 5,000-seat stadium, 1,700 spaces for cars and two full-sized grass pitches by officers.

A few days before the vote, BBC reported that the plans had “fundamental issues with no clear resolution” and that some councillors believed the ground would not provide enough for the local community, and concerns about noise and landscaping were raised too.

The Eastington Parish Council said it had a number of objections, the BBC report stated, adding that the Council said noise would be a problem and the travel plan was “not sustainable”.

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