Ashton Gate Stadium - Planned Expansion

Planned Expansion

After promotion to the championship in 2006/2007, Bristol City resurrected plans to rebuild the Wedlock Stand at Ashton Gate, two years after the project was first proposed, taking the next step towards having a stadium which holds 42,000 fans.

Planning permission was granted in 2005 to redevelop this end of the ground, which currently houses away supporters. Work was due to start in the July of that year. It was put back twelve months and then, mainly due to a lack of funds, was postponed indefinitely. After having won promotion to the Championship, City decided to press ahead, with the builders due to start work at the end of the 2007/2008 season.

The back of the Wedlock stand would have become the main entrance to the stadium and according to chief executive Colin Sexstone, "will have a fantastic concourse and 16 executive boxes." It will be even taller than the Dolman Stand. Although no images are available for the Wedlock design, the club said it will be very similar to the single-tier construction proposed two years ago. The new stand, which would cost in the region of £7 million to build, would house 5,300 fans, taking the capacity of Ashton Gate to 21,000 when segregation is used. Away fans would be moved to another part of the ground, although it is yet to be decided where.

The club were also granted permission to redevelop the Williams Stand in 1998, and have consistently renewed that so it still applies today. They planned to rebuild the stand completely and then fill in one of the corners, providing more than 13,000 seats, taking the total capacity up to 29,000.

However, these plans have been abandoned. On 29 November 2007, after 100 years at Ashton Gate, it was announced that Bristol City are planning to move to a new stadium near 'The Gate'. After conducting a comprehensive fans survey, a preliminary design was drawn up of a 30,000 capacity stadium with the option to increase to 42,000, should Bristol City require the expansion (the latter capacity was originally a requirement of being a host city as part of England's unsuccessful 2018 World cup bid). Full planning permission was won in 2009, but building work is currently hold after a decision in 2010 by an independent inspector that the Ashton Vale site should become a town green. Although this decision was later rejected by Bristol City Council allowing part of the site to be used for the stadium, a High Court judge has now ruled there should be a judicial review into the council's decision.