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Stadium boost for Evesham
Dr Martens League Western Division club Evesham United will kick off next season in a new £2million stadium.
Evesham have finally thrashed out all the necessary legal agreements to enable a move from its dilapidated Common Road set-up to a new 2,000 capacity ground off the Cheltenham Road. The club hope to swap contracts with Bloor Homes this week and wrap up a housing deal on the old Common Road site which will cover most of the estimated cost for the new stadium and clubhouse.
United's chairman Jim Cockerton is delighted with the news and believes the ground switch will secure the club's long-term future. "It's been ten years in the making but it's only in the last twelve months that we've got permission on the legal side sorted and it's a big relief," he said.
"We needed to move to take the club forward because Common Road is at the back of beyond where access is awful and people just don't want to come to the club because of it.
"The idea is to get better facilities for the club and town. If crowd support increases and our revenue increases we will be able to afford better players and can then look at moving up the football ladder," he added.
"The new stadium is a much more attractive proposition, the future is looking bright."
Major alterations to the A46 roundabout at the top of Cheltenham Road will take place first, and major landscaping work, as part of the planning permission.
The plans include a purpose-built clubhouse, a main pitch, car parking and two practice pitches.
Head of planning at Wychavon District Council, Jack Hegarty said: "Very few applicants in recent years have been so thoroughly considered. It has taken all this time to get this right and we have now got a planning permission that we can issue."
Cockerton will be hoping the prospect of a move can spark a resurgence of form on the pitch where the Robins have been struggling near the foot of the table.
"It's a bit of a mess on the pitch at the moment but Rome wasn't built in a day," said Cockerton.
"New manager Dave Busst has only been in charge for three matches and he knows what he's got to do."
Source: www.thisisworcestershire.co.uk
