SCORES of people turned up at a public exhibition to have their say on plans for a new Basingstoke Town Football Club (BTFC) stadium.

As reported in The Gazette, the club wants to build a £10million stadium at Old Common Road, in Eastrop, if the borough council agrees to a land transfer.

The plans have been revised in recent months following consultation with residents and football fans.

Malcolm McPhail, of Lamron Estates Ltd, the project manager for BTFC, said: “Some revisions were made six or seven months ago, after discussion about what was wanted. Concerns were raised about the traffic and parking and we have made changes.

“The main access is now from Old Common Road, and we have included plenty of parking.”

He added the number of terraces at the stadium has increased from one to two after speaking to fans, and that a physiotherapy room, a bar and a function room have been added to the internal plans.

The car park will now be an artificial surface, Mr McPhail said, so that it can be used by other groups, such as the circus when it comes to town.

An artist’s impression of how the new stadium would look was on display at the event, and many visitors were seeing the plans for the first time.

There was a mixed reaction from members of the public to the proposals, which were on display on Tuesday afternoon at Basingstoke Discovery Centre, in Festival Place.

Sarah Parsons (pictured below), general manager of Basingstoke Town FC, said: “There has been a real mix of views. People want the town to have a thriving football club, but they don’t want to lose green space. Everyone has a slightly different opinion on what the answer is.”

Basingstoke Gazette:

David Knight, secretary of the club, added: “We want to be able to provide a stadium to take this club into the next 100 years. The consultation period has been ongoing for a long time now, and this is the final stage.”

The deadline for people to give their views on the new stadium plan is tomorrow. If the land transfer is agreed, the plan is for the current Soccer AM stadium, in Winchester Road, to be redeveloped into a retail park, which will fund the new stadium and training facilities. The new 5,233-capacity stadium would be built with parking to the west of the Hilton hotel.

The plans include a £750,000 training facility with an all-weather training ground for students and the community to use between club sessions, and parking would be made available to The Costello School.