Hollywood celebrities Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds saw their most recent stadium proposal for Wrexham derailed by a local council decision.
The most recent plan that Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds had for the Racecourse Ground was derailed by a local council decision.
After the Red Dragons make their Football League comeback this season, the Hollywood stars have been making plans to watch them advance up the football hierarchy. However, after the council rejected their request for permission, those grandiose plans had to be scaled back.
Work has begun on the Racecourse Ground’s new Kop Stand, which will add 4,900 seats and open for business in the 2024–2025 season. To bring the total to 5,500 seats, the Hollywood pair, however, wanted to add another 600 seats.
However, the council rejected those plans because of worries about the amount of pollution that the building work would cause to the local rivers in the form of phosphate concentrations. Phosphate levels in Wales have been ordered to be lowered by environment officers.
“It is evident that the use of the Kop Stand at its full capacity is supported, subject to addressing the matters raised by Welsh Water,” the club wrote in response to the decision. This implies that the 5,500 spectators for whom the Racecourse Ground’s renovated Kop Stand has been planned and approved can fit there.”
In a statement, the council explained why it had refused the request, saying that it “hereby confirms that it considers the amendments, as described in the application, to be material.”
“We have declined your request to make a non-material amendment to the aforementioned planning permission. The applicant is advised that there is no right of appeal against the council’s refusal to grant this non-material amendment.
In order to discuss other options and procedures for making the desired changes to the current planning permission, the applicant is advised to get in touch with the council. Before creating detailed plans, the applicant is encouraged to speak with the council’s head of community development and wellbeing.”
After hosting a Wales vs. Scotland match in 1877, Racecourse Ground is the oldest international football stadium in the world. The new stand’s anticipated construction will raise the capacity to about 16,000, meeting UEFA requirements and enabling the location to host frequent international matches.
