COVENTRY CAMPAIGNERS PREPARE APPLICATION

CAMPAIGNERS fighting for the return of Coventry Speedway have prepared a planning application be submitted to Rugby Council.

Speedway and stock car racing at the famous Brandon Stadium ceased when developers closed it in 2017 in order to pursue an application for housing – but there has been no progress on that front, and residents have been left frustrated by regular security issues.

The application to be submitted by the group would encompass an early return for the sports – which do not require planning permission – and a change of use for various buildings to increase overall site viability and community involvement.

Spokesman Jeff Davies said: “It is well known that since the forced closure of the stadium by the developers in 2017, opposition to their plans has been unprecedented.

“This has resulted in their planning application, submitted well over three years ago, being largely ridiculed, and not just by ourselves – the findings of the Independent Report commissioned by the Council were damning for the developers.

“However, it has also been fair to question whether there are realistic alternative proposals involving the return of sport, especially given the condition the developers have enabled the stadium to fall into.

“This planning application emphatically answers that question, by laying out a careful scheme of proposals which are entirely deliverable and add to the overall viability of the site without any disturbance to the nearby residents and the village as a whole.”