FSM


Round-Up


Luton granted Planning Permission for New Stadium


Luton Borough Council has finally granted consent for a new 23,000-seat ground for the Hatters – but the viability of the project rests on a further planning decision, the club’s boss has warned. Luton Town chief executive Gary Sweet


likened Luton Borough Council’s long- awaited decision to grant consent for the League One side’s Power Court proposals to winning the first leg of a football semi- final. The local authority will decide later this


month whether to give the go-ahead for the club’s separate Newlands Park development on a plot close to Junction 10 of the M1. The proposals for Newlands Park, also by AndArchitects, include more than 500 homes, a hotel, conferencing facilities, music venue, retail space and a cinema. The stadium project can only go ahead


if the necessary funding is raised from the Newlands Park scheme. Describing the


club’s planning situation, Sweet said: ‘We have the away leg to go.’ Plans were submitted for the Power Court


stadium close to the town’s rail station back in the summer of 2016. Sweet hit out last February at the ’unfathomable’ wait for a planning decision and it took almost another year to get this week’s green light. ’It’s massive, it’s a milestone,’ Sweet said


of the decision. But he also warned that the plot earmarked for the new stadium – which will replace the club’s historic Kenilworth Road home – was ‘an horrendous site’. He said: ’There’s a lot of contamination;


we want to move the river out; we’ve got to remove the substation and do a lot of levelling. So before we even start, the cost of that isn’t far off the cost of a football stadium. ‘So, unless there is something else to fund


that process, then it will remain derelict forever. This is why principally we need


Newlands to be passed. No developer is going to have that kind of money to unlock that particular site.’ Battersea-based AndArchitects worked


with retail specialist Leslie Jones Architects on the stadium plans. Manuel Nogueira, managing director of


AndArchitects, said: ’It has taken six years to get to this point as it is a complex scheme which includes moving an electrical substation and de-culverting the River Lea. The planning applications where submitted over two years ago so its been a long wait. ’Once the Newlands Park application is


approved then we can really celebrate and move forward with both schemes together.’ The Football Association has previously said it was ‘in full support’ of the proposals. ’The site can be accessed by excellent


public transport routes and will significantly enhance the matchday offer currently available,’ said the game’s governing body.


Appointments to the Sports Grounds Safety Authority Board


The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has appointed Jil Matheson and Jane Sawyers to the board of the Sports Grounds Safety Authority for a period of three years commencing 12 December 2018.


Jil Matheson


Jil Matheson was the UK National Statistician, Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, and Head of the Government Statistical Service from 2009 until her retirement in 2014. She chaired the OECD Committee on


4 FSM


Statistics and Statistical Policy, and the UN Statistical Commission. She currently sits as Chair of the BBC Trust review of impartiality and accuracy and Trustee, of NatCen Social Research.


Jane Sawyers


Jane is a visiting Professor at Staffordshire University (2018-). Prior to this she was Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police (2014-2017) and Deputy Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police (2013-2014). Since 2015 Jane has been a Trustee of The Police


Arboretum Memorial Trust and in 2017 she was awarded the Queen’s police Medal.


The Sports Grounds Safety Authority


(SGSA) is the world leader in spectator safety at sports grounds. Working with governments, national and international governing bodies of sports, local organising committees, leagues, venues and clubs, as well as stadia architects and designers to minimise risk and help deliver safe events. The purpose is to ensure sports grounds are safe for everyone who attends.


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