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With the new season fast approaching, the question on every fan's mind is whether our stadium will be ready in time.
We want to assure everyone that the club is doing everything within its power to open the stadium for the new season. However, there are two significant obstacles that require decisions from third parties. While we are confident in overcoming these challenges, there remains an element of uncertainty, which is why we have yet to make a definitive announcement.
Firstly, as previously reported, the FA has conducted a ground grading process at our stadium. Although we anticipated not passing on the first attempt because there are simple jobs that we just haven't done yet as we don't have an open date, this visit has provided us with clear guidelines on what needs to be done to meet the requirements of both the FA and the Isthmian League.
Our to-do list includes simple tasks that we were fully aware would need completeing such as pitch markings, installing goals, painting yellow hazard lines on the terraces and the tarmac surrounding the pitch. All very achievable and we are well underway completing these tasks.
Additionally, we need to provide temporary facilities including a boardroom, food and beverage outlets, and toilet facilities until the internal fit-out is complete. We have sourced suppliers for all of these elements and are ready to push the button on ordering these as soon as we get a green light.
The second issue we face is obtaining approval from Building Control to use the main stand seats. League regulations require us to have 150 seats available on match days. Since the main stand is not yet complete internally, we need a partial sign-off from Building Control. This involves addressing fire safety and other considerations before approval can be granted. Our project team is working closely with Building Control to meet all necessary requirements as quickly as possible.
While we remain confident that all these tasks will be completed in time for the new season, we cannot guarantee this yet. Along with all of you, we would love to announce the stadium's opening, however it will be a few more weeks before we can provide a definitive answer.
Our contingency plan is that we have an agreement in place to groundshare next season if necessary. This agreement has been in place since March 2024 which was the deadline for providing home ground details to the FA and was always going to be in place as a back up.
We will of course update date everyone as soon as we have a definite decision.
Thank you for your patience and continued support as we work towards making our new stadium a reality.