The Club recently submitted a s73 planning application which seeks permission for some changes to the stadium design.
The application was made jointly with Merton Catalyst who are responsible for developing the residential part of the site.
Our part of the application mainly comprises:
• A proposal to remove the requirement to build a crèche in the east stand. LB Merton has confirmed that there is no identified need for further nursery provision in the local area. Further, having investigated the market and operational issues around delivering this use, it has been confirmed that a crèche is neither economically nor practically realistic.
• The approved stadium design includes a small café kiosk built into the east stand; in effect it would have comprised the matchday kiosks made open to the public on non-matchdays. Having considered in detail the small floor area of the consented café (circa 30 sq. m), the estimated need/usage (likely to be focussed heavily on take away service due to its size) and the economics around providing it, the Club concluded that it would not be commercially sustainable.
• The removal of a sub-basement in the south stand to facilitate a simpler building process. There is a consequent knock-on effect on the amount of available parking, reducing it to 44 spaces.
There are other minor amendments, for example; squaring off the ends of the east stand which are currently scheduled to be rounded; a change to opening hours to allow for the event that we have a midweek game that goes to extra time and possibly penalties (there has been a handful of such games in the last ten years); and some practical operating changes to the cycling storage provisions.
The timing of the decision will depend on the dates of the Planning Committee; its next scheduled dates meeting are 18 October and 15 November.