City's return hopes in tatters as Parsonage plan is shelved - The Worcester Observer

City's return hopes in tatters as Parsonage plan is shelved

Worcester Editorial 26th Jul, 2018   0

COUNCIL chiefs are set to show the red card to Worcester City’s bid to return to the city after a bombshell report into the prospect of a stadium at Parsonage Way revealed any development could cost £2.5million.

As a result, city councillors on the influential Policy and Resources Committee are being asked to agree no further work is carried out, meaning Worcester City will remain in exile having left their St George’s Lane home in 2013.

The report, which will be considered by the committee on Monday, concludes ‘development of the site for the proposed use by WCFC [is] an unrealistic option’ and said making the site usable could cost a seven figure sum including the building of a traffic junction. Studies have also found rare wildlife species on the site.C

Councillors agreed to spend up to £100,000 on investigations into whether Parsonage Way, in the north-east of Worcester near M5 Junction 6, could be suitable for use as a new ground for the club last September.




More than £57,000 of cash has been spent on modelling the potential pitch, stands and car-parking arrangements; topographical studies of the site; highways research and modelling; and an ecological survey of the site.

The report says that it would cost more than £200,000 to level out the land and then lay an irrigation system and establish a natural pitch, so that football could be played there.


A ‘significant six figure sum’ is reported to be needed to create traffic access to the site, with options including a new roundabout, traffic lights, a dedicated right turn, or a left-in left-out junction.

An interim ecological study on the site has revealed the presence of bats and great crested newts. The report says this means Natural England would need to provide licences to allow development at the site, likely to cost around £2,500 for each species.

“There can be no guarantee that light generating development, including breakages in the hedgerow for access to the site, new street lighting along Parsonage Way as well as floodlights, would receive support from Natural England,” the report said.

A covenant also applies to the land, which restricts what it can be used for. Changing this to allow it to be used as a football ground will incur a further cost – still subject to negotiation – for the council, the report notes.

“The indicative costs for the delivery of a scheme on the site are in the region of £1.5 million to £2.5 million depending on the cost of the different mitigation measures, in particular the highway mitigation measures,” the report concluded.

In a statement Worcester City said: “The recent set back at Parsonage Way provides yet more expensive frustration for the club with as yet  still no alternative in sight. The search will continue.”

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