Ground Development
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club were this week given the go ahead by Bristol City Council for their ground development.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club had submitted two planning applications in October for development of the ground, following extensive discussions with planning officers and two public consultation exercises, to which 2,500 local residents were invited. The Development Control (North) committee made the final ruling on Wednesday.
GCCC Chief Executive, Tom Richardson said,
"We are delighted that Bristol City Council has resolved to grant planning permission for developing our ground in Nevil Road.
It is essential for the club to develop the ground in order to continue hosting regular international cricket here in Bristol. This development will bring many benefits, not only to our members and sports fans but also to the city of Bristol and the local region.
There has been a lot of hard work put into this application, particularly with transport and access issues and we are now looking forward to proceeding with our plans."
GCCC has been playing cricket at the Nevil Rd ground since 1888 and international games have been hosted there since 1999. Cricket is still the only major international sport to be played in Bristol but GCCC needs to make significant improvements to the facilities in order to secure its own financial future and meet the standards set by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for international matches.
The key elements of the applications, which include changes made in response to consultation feedback, are:
- Increase in seating capacity of 4,000 to 20,000
- Provision of world class media centre
- Improved conferencing and hospitality facilities
- Upgrades to the BS7 fitness club, including a swimming pool
- Enabling development in the form of 350 student accommodation units (reduced from initial proposal of 500 in response to local feedback)
