AFC Rushden & Diamonds has submitted a formal objection to the demolition of a former football stadium.
Nene Park, which was home to Rushden & Diamonds FC before the club went into administration in 2011, is set to be demolished after a planning application was submitted to build a new retail and leisure facility on the site.
However, AFC Rushden & Diamonds, the football club formed by fans after the collapse of Rushden & Diamonds FC, has submitted an objection to East Northamptonshire Council.
It said: “Realisation of the development proposed within the outline planning application would result in the loss of a large football stadium and another full-sized pitch plus a five-a-side pitch.
“The local community is in dire need of such facilities and they are only out of use currently due to the desire of the current owner(s) to re-develop the land.”
Although the application states that applicant, Conalagen Enterprises SA, will contribute £200,000 towards suitable replacement facilities, the club said this did not specify what it would involve, adding: “The proposed £200,000 seems a rather small contribution considering suitable replacement playing facilities could cost in the region of £2.5m.”
AFC Rushden & Diamonds also said it was disappointed to be left out of the planning and consultation process.
“Since AFC Rushden & Diamonds is responsible for facilitating more football participation hours than any other local club, we would have hoped to be consulted as part of such discussions and feel that we could have made a valuable contribution to them,” it stated.
“A representative of the club detailed amongst their responses that we currently have 21 teams who would actively prefer to play their home matches within East Northants but cannot due to a lack of local playing facilities.
“Having reviewed the documentation accompanying the aforementioned outline planning application, we feel that granting planning permission for the proposed development would be of further detriment to this situation rather than helping to address it.”
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