OFFICIALS at Worcester City Football Club say their latest bid for a state-of-the-art soccer stadium will be their last.
The commercial development backed by DIY superstore B&Q would see a move from crumbling St George's Lane to a revolutionary ground at Nunnery Wood with an initial 7,000 capacity.
A project team for the club put the final touches to the promotional package to hand in to Worcester city councillors, which will be discussed at an informal planning presentation on Thursday, November 1.
If the team is not successful, WCFC will have to stay at St George's Lane where it will prove difficult to achieve the club dream of Football League status.
And the Nunnery Way site could be an area developed for industrial warehouses.
The team, headed by local solicitor David Hallmark, aims to seek support in principle for the scheme, in order to give project leaders the confidence to thoroughly investigate the potential of the Nunnery Way area.
Our aim at the meeting is not for councillors to give planning permission, but to endorse and encourage our bid for development. We want to form an initial base of confidence so we can then promote and begin the evolution process of our proposal, said Mr Hallmark.
Recognising this fact in principle is the first step in a long and hard battle for the club, which has fought for the site at Nunnery Way.
The project for the additional finance has always been the club's sticking point. The club needs to find an approved developer on the site, just off the M5, not only to help pay for costs totalling at least £7m, but to also meet council requirements.
A leisure complex, offices, a car dealership, tennis centre, cattle market, pub, houses and a cinema have all been failed suggestions in the past.
But each bid did not have enough funds to meet the potential cost of the stadium and the necessary road links, landscaping and site levelling involved.
Now the club, approaching its centenary celebrations next year, is hoping for an anniversary present to begin the groundwork for an eventual 10,000-seater stadium.
The Dr Martens Premier team now hopes the new plans will establish a ground in its own right while complimenting the county's first class cricket and rugby facilities.
The club and fans will know if the latest plans are accepted on Friday, November 2.
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