FURTHER plans have been submitted as Winklebury Football Complex prepares to become the new home of Basingstoke Town Community Football Club.

As previously reported in the Gazette, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council have approved plans that allow for upgrades to Winklebury, home of Hampshire FA, paving the way for the football club to return to the town next season.

Councillors also announced at a meeting last month that £150,000 of funding, set aside from a section 106 order when the Marnel Park development in Popley was built, will be allocated to funding the improvements at the site, with building set to finish in time for the start of the next season.

Currently, the stadium at Winklebury is graded in category F by the Football Association. At their current level, Basingstoke must play at category D.

The latest plans, submitted to the council last month, will see an extra changing room built for officials, a requirement at category C, which is on a par as the Camrose ground.

However, more development will need to be done to the rest of the Winklebury site in order for it to reach category C grading.

The plans will see a single storey extension built to the main stand. The current layout will be updated to allow for the extra official's changing room, with the director's room relocated to the extension.

The plans reveal that the new extension will be three metres tall, compared to the seven metre tall stand.

The document continues: "The single storey extension to the existing Main Stand will use materials to match those on the existing building, with the exception of the roof which will be a low pitched profile metal cladding."

At the time of writing, Hampshire County Council's highways team said they had no objections to the plan, and Natural England said that they had no comment.

Speaking at the time, the club's chairman, Kevin White, said he was “delighted” at the news.

He added: “It is a massive step forward and also it is a step forward that the people of Winklebury want us on their doorstep.

“We had a really positive meeting with the council and Hampshire FA, they are looking at ways that they can kick-start the development.”

The initial plans, which were approved by the council last month, include the building of a new clubhouse, a new storage container and turnstiles.

The existing main stand will have another 35 seats, whilst a new covered terrace and an additional covered stand will be built.