Leicester City Council has recommended that the King Power Stadium redevelopment project be approved, with the matter set to be voted on at a meeting next Wednesday.
Premier League club Leicester City is planning on expanding King Power Stadium’s capacity from 32,000 to 40,000, with the project also including a mixed-use development that will feature a new arena.
Details of the project were first revealed in July 2021 and the council had initially targeted a decision date for early February, but that passed by, as did further target dates in April and July.
Leicester City Council last month confirmed a committee meeting date of September 14 and City chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha last week maintained the club’s owners were “100% committed” to the project, adding that he was expecting “positive news” from local authorities soon.
It now appears that the project will be officially given the green light next week. According to multiple reports, council documents have shown that planning officers have recommended committee members approve the plans at next week’s meeting.
Leicester submitted its hybrid planning application to the council in October last year following an extensive pre-application public consultation, which ran from August and September.
In January, approval was given to two other proposals put forward by Leicester. This granted the club the ability to commence preliminary works on site, which has yet to start.
As well as the expansion of King Power Stadium and a new multi-purpose arena, the project includes a club megastore, 220-room hotel, club and commercial office space, a residential tower, and a new multi-storey car park.
In his programme notes ahead of Leicester’s match against Manchester United last week, Srivaddhanaprabha said: “When we first announced our intention to expand King Power Stadium and develop the surrounding site – a project central to our long-term growth – we would have anticipated such work being well underway by this stage.
“We are 100 per cent committed to the project and indeed hope to have positive news from the local authorities relative to planning permission imminently, but the project’s delay has unquestionably been among the many consequences of the unprecedented global events of recent year.”
