Aston Villa are set to adjust their plans for the redevelopment of Villa Park with revisions made to the initial submission made by the club.
Villa’s initial plans received the green light from Birmingham City Council in December 2022, with an extra 7,400 seats in the North Stand set to increase the total capacity to 50,000.
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Additionally, work is set to be done to improve the surrounding area with the introduction of the ‘Villa Live’ hub, with the club keen to improve the club shop facilities, academy building, hospitality options and much more.
However, those plans hit a snag earlier this month as BirminghamLive reported that the redevelopment plans were on hold due to transport concerns, specifically to do with Witton railway station and its ability to cater for the increase in numbers.
As seen in the image below of a letter sent out by the club, it appears as though they’ve now made tweaks to the plans which should help speed the process up and get work underway, although it will now be subject to fresh planning application checks to be approved.
The changes include the renovation of the ‘Academy/Stumps’ building across from the North Stand to turn it into a new ‘multi-use experience and enhanced matchday and event fan zone’ as well as the new administrative hub for the Club, with those services currently located within the North Stand.
A new Club Shop and sports bar cafe will then be built in the new North Stand, and so those are where some of the design changes come into play from the initial plan that was proposed.
It’s reaffirmed in the letter that the plan for ‘Villa Live’ remains unchanged, but these new ideas and plans will allow the club to deliver what they want within a shorter timeframe, and so it remains to be seen how they are received and whether or not it gets the relevant permission to proceed.
Ultimately, these updates, upgrades and changes are needed at Villa Park, and so it’s hoped that this vision is made a reality, and it’s perhaps part of the influence from Chris Heck, who was appointed as President of Business Operations in May.
It had been reported that Heck wasn’t particularly impressed with some of the decisions of his predecessor Christian Purslow in relation to the club’s recently announced sponsorship deals, and so perhaps this is another aspect of the business side of the club that he wants to adjust having now had a chance to assess it in greater detail.
It’s hoped that we get an update on the situation sooner rather than later to allow for the required work to begin, and thus we’ll start to see tangible changes soon after.
👀 #avfc #astonvilla redevelopment pic.twitter.com/pqx3DYsYiw
— kyle richardson (@kyleavfc1874) June 28, 2023
