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PRIVACY
Economic Development

Stockport County stadium expansion set for approval

Project had faced objections from wildlife campaigners

How Edgeley Park could look(Image: Stockport County)

There have been late twists and turns, but Stockport County's plan to redevelop Edgeley Park looks set to go ahead this week.

The council's planning committee is meeting at the town hall on Thursday to decide proposals to boost the stadium's capacity.

This would add 7,400 seats and bring the total number of supporters in the ground to more than 18,000, with a new east stand and south stand.

A planning application for the near £50m investment could have been granted in July, but a 'late and lengthy' objection from wildlife campaigners forced a delay.

The Edgeley Wildlife Reserve group urged the plans to be rethought, with concerns about the loss of natural green land behind the south stand, earmarked to become a car park.

Rob Eyre, one of the campaigners, claimed the space is a 'sanctuary teeming with life' in an urban Stockport neighbourhood.

But the group was accused of a 'deliberate attempt' at stopping progress, with an Edgeley councillor saying that their late objection offered 'nothing substantively different' to previous concerns.

An expanded stadium in the heart of Stockport is thought to be vital to County's future.