Mixed fortunes for rivals’ stadium projects

Plans to upgrade facilities of the town’s two football clubs have diverged, with Wythenshawe Amateurs winning approval for a new clubhouse and Wythenshawe Town’s expansion hitting the buffers. 

Amateurs’ plans for the Hollyhedge Community Stadium, located on Altrincham Road, include enlarging the existing clubhouse by extending out into the car park to create a bigger function room. The bar will also be reconfigured. 

The clubhouse will have a patio attached to the extension, with the loss of six car parking spaces as a result. 

The existing clubhouse was built in 2009, and was designed by Yorkshire-based Northern Design Group, which is also behind the latest scheme. 

Amateurs’ rival club, Wythenshawe Town, whose Ericstan stadium is 2.5 miles away on Timpson Road in Baguley, hopes to undertake a similar project. The scheme involves the construction of a 3,000 sq ft single-storey suite on the football club’s existing car park, to be used on match days for hospitality and club meetings, according to the planning application.

The space would also be used by local businesses and the local community for functions, seminars, conferences and other events, the application states.

Planning approval for the facility, to be called the Townhouse, was granted last December but the scheme has not yet progressed. The applicant last year was a special purpose company called The Townhouse Manchester.  

Chris O’Donovan, managing director of Sale Property Consultants, the project manager for the scheme, told Place North West that Manchester City Council had yet to grant the football club an extended lease on the site, which means that funding for the proposed extension has not yet been secured. 

He said the club is now exploring a modular option rather than the current plan designed by 10architect. 

The project team also comprises Watermans and WYG as planning consultant.