Legal blow won't stop homecoming

The Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday (February 15) that in June 2014 South Cambridgeshire District Council's planning committee had failed to give "sufficient" reasons for granting permission for the club's proposed 3,000 capacity stadium on a Green Belt site after going against the advice of planning officers and breaching a local development plan.

The Lilywhites, currently ground-sharing with EVO-STIK League Southern top flight rivals St Ives Town after leaving their old Milton Road home in 2013, are vowing to fight on with their local planning committee now set to reconsider the application for the new community stadium which include a floodlit grass pitch, full-sized training pitch and 500 parking spaces.

The application has not been formally quashed and in a statement expressing their "disappointment" the club said: "Cambridge City Football Club today accepts the judgement handed down in the High Court regarding an appeal made against planning permission to build a new stadium for the club at a site in Sawston.

“The verdict at the High Court today followed a hearing last month before a panel of three judges. The outcome has heard that the planning committee of South Cambridgeshire District Council was in breach of a common law duty to provide reasons for its decision to grant planning permission for the development. Permission for the development has not been formally quashed, but is subject to written applications from both sides being submitted before a decision is made.

“Whilst the club accepts the judgement, it is clearly very disappointed with the outcome. The club wishes to state that the case has always been between a local resident and the District Council, and whilst this has been ongoing the club has continued to set out its plans to build a first-class facility for the local community and the surrounding area.

“Given the verdict today, the club will now take time to review the status of the project and will now consult all relevant parties to evaluate its position so it can develop an appropriate way forward. The club realises and understands the disappointment that supporters will feel at the outcome today. It also recognises the same level of disappointment and frustration that will be felt among the local population in Sawston, many of whom are looking forward to a first-class community facility being built.

“With this in mind, the chairman and Board of Directors wish to state that it remains committed to relocating the club to the site in Sawston, and that a new home for Cambridge City is very much at the forefront of the plans, and has been since vacating its historic Milton Road home during the summer of 2013."

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