Posted: Mon 10th Oct 2022

Kop planning application should not be affected by phosphates issues – Club ask community to “show your support by signing the petition”

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area
This article is old - Published: Monday, Oct 10th, 2022

Wrexham AFC have said the planning application for the Kop Development should be heard by the Planning Committee as early as the first week in November.

The club say the “Council are currently undertaking the statutory consultation required and working positively with the Club to resolve any issues that are identified”.

The planning application documents have been updated following the formal submission on 5th August, with two new files.

One technical note refers to the phosphates issues, which as readers will recall from recent coverage, has stalled or even stopped some developments locally and in Wales.

Phosphates are naturally occurring minerals which can enter rivers via land management practices, sewerage and foul water, causing significant ecological damage.

Environmental regulator Natural Resources Wales (NRW) introduced phosphate control regulations to protect watercourses in Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) across the country. The Welsh Government said phosphate pollution poses a “serious risk” to health and must be addressed.

Both Wrexham and Flintshire Council have experienced delays in having their local development plans approved because of the tough new rules, and many planning applications have been affected / delayed or not even put forward.

The new technical update states (our bolding), “The proposed 5500 seat Kop Stand and 600 capacity exhibition space development will therefore have a negligeable impact upon the existing phosphate levels as the users are already contributing to the Five Fords Waste Water Treatment Works (WwTW) facility prior to out falling into the River Dee. This is therefore viewed as maintaining the current conditions and status quo from the existing site condition.

“The proposed development of the 5500 seated Kop Stand and Exhibition space for 600 people replaces an existing stand that has historically seen a maximum capacity of 9000 supporters but more commonly was closer to 5000 i.e. that the capacity of the new Kop Stand is within the former capacity figures. This figure was more recently reduced voluntarily so to accommodate all fans under cover and below the roof. Combining this with the previous statement it further supports the understanding that phosphates should not be mitigated for the Kop Stand as this has already been accounted for in the Five Fords WwTW River Dee catchment.”

The second document is a noise assessment which contains a ‘minor update’.

In an update issued today the club statement adds, “The Kop will increase the capacity of the Racecourse Ground by 5,500 seats that have a rail in front of them, so fans can stand for Wrexham’s games or be seated for international fixtures.

“An example of the seating arrangement is available to view adjacent to Turnstile 1 at the Racecourse Ground. Many fans have already submitted photos to #supportwrexhamkop of themselves stood on the mini-kop and we will be using these images to support our planning application. There is still time to join them!”

“What is important is to be able to demonstrate public support for our application. We would encourage you to sign the petition below and share the link with family & friends, asking them to do the same before October 19, 2022.”

“If you have any queries about how to demonstrate your support, please don’t hesitate to call 0800 089 0362 or email [email protected]

You can find out more and sign the Kop petition via https://online-consultations.co.uk/supportwxmkop/



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