Chelsea owner Abramovich has just eight weeks to begin £1bn Stamford Bridge rebuild before planning permission expires
ROMAN ABRAMOVICH has just eight weeks to confirm Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge rebuild before the planning permission expires. Chelsea got approval from the council to move ahead with their redevelopment of their stadium in January 2017. But as reported by The Athletic, the planning permission they received – and backed by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan […]
ROMAN ABRAMOVICH has just eight weeks to confirm Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge rebuild before the planning permission expires.
Chelsea got approval from the council to move ahead with their redevelopment of their stadium in January 2017.
But as reported by The Athletic, the planning permission they received – and backed by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan – expires on March 31.
That gives the Blues less than two months to confirm with Hammersmith and Fulham Council what work will be done and when.
The report adds that the physical work does not have to be underway by March 31.
Instead the club can issue a pre-commencement application to explain the details of what they will do.
A source told The Athletic: “It is not necessarily a case of Chelsea knocking through a wall — they can file paperwork with the intention of knocking down the wall and when.”
But as the clock counts down, the first phase of the project – knocking down buildings around the stadium, including the Millennium and Copthorne Hotels — has not begun.
And if the council receive no confirmation of what is happening by March 31, then the entire application process must start all over again.
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It was revealed in May 2019 that designers working on the plans to develop Stamford Bridge were looking at other possible sites.
The costs of the project spiralled to £1billion and the club decided to put a hold on their plans in May 2018.
Sites including Battersea Power Station, Earls Court, Chelsea Barracks and White City have all been considered in the past
But Chelsea are now set to stay on their current Fulham Road site in the long term, regardless of whether they update the ground or not.
The Chelsea Pitch Owners group – which owns the freehold on Stamford Bridge and the Chelsea Football Club naming rights – are insistent that the Blues stay where they are.
Questions still remain over Chelsea owner Abramovich’s commitment to the club – he is understood not to have applied for a new Tier 1 investor visa after withdrawing his application in spring 2018.
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So the idea of him investing more of his own personal wealth into a stadium he cannot regularly visit seems strange.
However, the Russian did put in £247million into Chelsea from his own pocket in the last financial year – but Frank Lampard was left disappointed in January as no new signings came in despite the transfer ban being lifted.
Should Chelsea decide to move ahead with the renovation of Stamford Bridge and add the 18,000 extra seats to compete with Tottenham and Arsenal, they still face plenty of challenges.
Due to having railway tracks on both sides of the stadium, they cannot expand outwards and therefore would have to dig down to have the pitch below ground level.
The transport links also mean any work – such as a proposed walkway – would need to avoid disrupting National Rail or Transport for London services.
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And the vibration caused by heavy plant machinery must also be considered and monitored as not to disrupt the catacombs in Brompton Cemetery.
Chelsea have predicted that they would have to move away from their current home for four years while the redevelopment takes place.
Not only would that surely infuriate fans but the move would then have major knock-on consequences for businesses around the ground that are so reliant on matchdays for large parts of their revenue.
