Controversial stadium plan gets council backing

BATH and North East Somerset Council has given its backing to plans to build a stadium in the centre of Bath.

- JOHN WIMPERIS

Bath Rugby's long-held ambition to build a permanent 18,000-seat stadium on the Recreation Ground has cleared a major hurdle after the council's planning committee voted 8-1 to give its backing to the plans yesterday afternoon. But planning permission has not yet been granted as the council needs to wait for “specific authorisation” from the government.

The new stadium would replace the “eyesore” temporary stands which Bath Rugby currently uses at the Recreation Ground. Cllr Toby Simon, planning committee member and Liberal Democrat councillor for Bathwick where the stadium would be located, said the stadium would be “good for Bath” and proposed the council back the plans.

He told the planning committee: “I see this as the only option to retain rugby in Bath. For me cities are places for people and activities and watching professional sport is very much a 21st-century activity and it needs to be provided for in a city which has always provided for leisure activities and has had them at its core.”

Cllr Eleanor Jackson (Westfield, Labour) added: “Georgian Bath was full of innovation and newness. So probably the Georgians today would be looking quite excitedly at these plans.”