SOUTH DOWNS SOCIETY RENEWS ITS OBJECTION TO THE STADIUM IN THE SUSSEX DOWNS
The South Downs Society has today (15 September 2008) vowed to oppose plans to change the huge new Brighton & Hove Albion Football Stadium.
The original plans are said by Brighton & Hove Football Club now to be inadequate. The new plans allow for an increase in the internal area of the stadium to 27,796sq metres. The grass topped chalk bunds, designed to help the stadium to blend into the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, would be scrapped; and tonnes of spoil, instead of being removed from the site, would be spread on nearby fields within the proposed National Park.
Steve Ankers, Planning Officer for the South Downs Society, said: “We are of course very concerned, though not totally surprised, that the Club has come back with an even more damaging scheme. We will be looking very closely at the new proposals – and indeed any other schemes that might come forward in this area – to ensure that damage to the Downs is minimized.”
Approval was eventually given in July 2007 by the government for the stadium to be built following a six-year campaign against it led by conservationists and local people. The government’s decision was criticized for flying in the face of its own policies on protecting beautiful landscapes.
The government’s decision followed two public inquiries, both of which found against the proposal for the stadium on the Falmer site, and a successful challenge in the High Court brought by South Downs Society, Lewes District Council and Falmer Parish Council.
The site has been part of the Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty since the 1960s and more recently, part of it was designated as a National Park.
Work is scheduled to begin on the Stadium in December.