Wakefield announced plans to leave their current home at Hearwell Stadium to relocate to a new state of the art 12,000 capacity community stadium off junction 30 of the M62 in April this year, following a written warning from the Ruby Football League to upgrade their facilities. Wakefield is looking for funding from the Wakefield District Council.
An artist’s impression of what the stadium may look like was presented to the club by developers Yorkcourt Properties at the end of last week. Chairman of the Stadium Sub Committee, Sir Rodney Walker, and the other sub committee members, as well as Wildcats chairman Ted Richardson took a tour around the Leigh Sporting Village last Friday, the site on which the new stadium will be based.
At a Community Trust’s trustees meeting last week it was decided that land granted by the council as an asset would be used towards borrowing cash for the stadium and would be under the control of the Community Trust.
The deputy leader of Wakefield Council, Councilor Denise Jeffery said that support matters were being discussed with all three Rugby League clubs in the district – Castleford Tigers and Featherstone Rovers, who are also looking to build new stadia – and the trust is looking at innovative ways to support them. He said, “We are now using council land assets to help them realize their aspirations and to have facilities fit for Super League status.”
The club has been given 12 months to develop their plans. Richardson says that due consideration of meeting the cost of the stadium has been taken into account, and that the club is considerate of the effect of the current economic climate on their supporters.
