Castleford given green light for new stadium
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Your support makes all the difference.Castleford moved a major step closer to realising their dream of moving into a new state-of-the-art stadium today when they were given full planning permission for the project.
The Tigers already had outline permission for the 13,300-capacity stadium at Glasshoughton, near junction 32 of the M62, and this morning received detailed planning consent from Wakefield Council.
The club's chief executive Richard Wright said: "Today is another significant milestone for Castleford Tigers.
"Having addressed all the relevant issues in our outline planning application, we always had confidence in the strength of our detailed planning application.
"This consent is not just good for the club. The delivery of the new stadium will act as a catalyst for further development of the Glasshoughton site and will also kick-start regeneration in the Wheldon Road corridor and town centre."
Castleford, who are one of the few Super League clubs to own their own ground, still have some work to do to finally fulfill their ambition.
They need a new stadium to ensure their long-term future in Super League and will now turn their attention to securing the funding.
The club recently secured an agreement with developers to sell their existing ground at Wheldon Road for a food retail outlet but will need planning permission.
The Tigers had intended to build homes on the ground but a slump in the housing market forced a re-think and they are hoping the change of use can fund the £50million development of both sites.
Wright added: "As part of this agreement, Opus Land (North) Ltd and Palmer Capital will fully fund the new stadium construction immediately once planning permission has been granted for the current site.
"This is the final piece of the jigsaw in terms of delivering the new stadium."
The change of plans has meant the new stadium will not be ready until the start of the 2103 season, 12 months later than envisaged, but the club say they remain confident the delay will not jeopardise their hopes of securing a new three-year Super League licence in July.
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