Council Pledges to Protect Community After Approving Chelsea Stadium
Fully expects club to work with local residents to minimise disruption
H&F Council is promising to protect local people and ensure the community benefits after its Planning and Development Committee gave the go ahead to Chelsea Football Club's plans for a new stadium at a meeting held on Wednesday 11 January.
Following the decision, Council Leader Stephen Cowan said: "Chelsea’s new stadium will deliver some real benefits to the borough. But we have also made it clear to the club that we fully expect them to work with local residents to minimise the disruption of the works.
"We are happy to help usher in this exciting new phase in Chelsea FC’s history. And we will continue to work hard to deliver as many protections and benefits as possible for the area by working with the club and local residents."
The council says it has been scrutinising the application since November 2015 and worked hard to secure £22million in benefits to the local community.
This includes a £3.75m contribution to build affordable housing for local residents – not overseas investors - as well as the promised improvement of local leisure, recreation and sporting facilities in the borough.
H&F and Chelsea FC will now finalise the Section 106 grant to capture the community benefits that the club has agreed to provide.
As a condition of the approval, the council has required Chelsea FC to create a new Business and Community Liaison Group to inform residents and businesses of the different stages of the demolition and construction programme, working hours and to provide a 24 hour contact for residents and businesses if they have a concern about the works.
The club is also required to install bird and bat boxes during the works to help protect local wildlife, as well as creating at least 427 cycle racks in the development.
The council's green light for the new stadium was granted despite impassioned objections from people living in a number of neighbouring properties.
Members of the committee also expressed particular concerns about the proposed walkways over the Overground and District lines and management of demolition of the existing buildings and construction of the new stadium.
Following the decision, Chelsea released a statement saying: ""We are grateful that planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of our historic home.
"The committee decision does not mean that work can begin on site. This is just the latest step, although a significant one, that we have to take before we can commence work, including obtaining various other permissions."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan will have the final say on Chelsea's plans.
The club is hoping to demolish the current stadium along with all the other buildings on the site including flats, hotels and health club and build a new stadium on the existing Stamford Bridge site which will hold 60,000 spectators instead of the current total of
41,500.
The stadium has been designed by architects by Herzog & de Meuron, who also designed the Beijing Olympic Stadium and is expected to cost owner Roman Abramovich upwards of £500 million.
The club's planning application, which was slightly revised in August 2016, is as follows:
Demolition of existing stadium and buildings within Stamford Bridge Grounds and construction of a new 60,000 capacity football stadium (Class D2) with ancillary stadium-related uses including a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant, Club shop, kiosks and museum; restaurant/café (Class A3); together with the construction of a Decking Platform over the District Line railway to the north-west and a Decking Platform over the Southern mainline railway to the east; external concourse areas; associated excavation works; new pedestrian access from Fulham Broadway Station and Fulham Road; new vehicular access via Wansdown Place; car parking; landscaping and related works. (‘Amended Proposed Development’).
You can read the full application and hundreds of supporting documents here.
Chelsea FC now have three years to begin work on the site before the approval expires.
January 13, 2017
