Chelsea get green light for £500m Stamford Bridge redevelopment as council approves new stadium plans

Vaishali Bhardwaj12 January 2017

Chelsea's application to redevelop Stamford Bridge has tonight been approved by Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

The council's Planning and Development Control Committee met on Wednesday evening at Hammersmith Town Hall to look at Chelsea's plans to increase Stamford Bridge's capacity from 41,663 to 60,000.

In a meeting which began at around 7.30pm, the council voted to accept Chelsea's proposal, first submitted in November 2015, which will cost owner Roman Abramovich £500million to fund.

It means Chelsea can begin preparations on the new stadium, which is expected to take three years to build during which time the Blues would need to play their games at another location, most likely at Wembley Stadium.

An increased capacity will allow Chelsea to significantly boost their matchday revenue and begin to match top earners Arsenal, who brought in £101m in figures published in the 2016 Deloitte Football Money League.

The landmark decision, which is set to be a huge day in the history of the west London club, is the culmination of several years of hard work and those involved in the redevelopment project will now have to work with council members to secure full planning consent, along with support of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

A club statement read: "We are grateful that planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of our historic home.

"The committee decision does not mean that work can begin on site. This is just the latest step, although a significant one, that we have to take before we can commence work, including obtaining various other permissions.

"We will continue to inform you of progress throughout this process."

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