Plans Approved to Increase Capacity of Wrexham AFC’s Kop Stand Amid Parking Concerns

Plans to increase the initial capacity of Wrexham AFC’s Kop  to 7,750 have been approved – but need to seriously consider parking protection for residents after an increase in aggressive altercations between fans and residents.
One councillor – who supported the scheme – raised concerns at Wrexham County Borough Council’s Planning Committee around fans confronting residents about parking outside their homes and wheelchair users being forced into the road and even struck by vehicles.
Despite this a late addendum from Wrexham County Borough Council’s  highways officers attempted to cast doubt over the effectiveness or practicality of a residents matchday parking scheme – prompting a curt response from members.
Plans approved on Monday to expand the initial capacity of the Kop stand from 5,500 fans to 7,750 fans will add at least 1,700 car journeys into the city on matchdays according to Wrexham AFC’s own research.
That is despite proposals for strategic travel plans involving city centre parking, rail and bus travel to mitigate pressure on the road network.
Originally the  plans included enhanced park and ride, use of private car parking in the city centre and a residents matchday parking restriction.
That last measure would prevent the prediction that 97% of residential parking spaces near the ground would be potentially used by fans heading to the ground.
But highways officers from Wrexham County Borough Council’s Environment department made a late addendum to try to explain away the need for a residents parking scheme.
According to officers: “implementation of a match state parking scheme cannot be guaranteed because there’s a regulatory process through the traffic regulation or the process which you have to go through, which does include consultation that residents have the option to object to.
“A resident’s matchday parking scheme would not provide any additional transport capacity or reduce demand for private car, travel to the stadium by private car.
“There’s a risk that match day parking could be displaced into areas not covered by the scheme and so relocating the impact rather than fully mitigating for it.”
But Cllr Phil Wynn, who supports the expansion, criticised officers’ view.
“I want to acknowledge the club’s ambitious plans to deliver an extended Racecoure Stadium fit for the Premiership,” he said.
“Having read the addendum, it has let me somewhat deflated on behalf of my residents. When I read the report last week, it clearly addressed the solution – residential parking in the side streets near to the stadium.
“I am deflated that officers have decided to delete all reference to that solution.
“Other local authorities employ matchday residents parking schemes legally throughout this country so why can’t Wrexham? I do accept that it will not provide any additional transport capacity.
“However, if fans cannot park near to the stadium, one hopes they will follow the guidance of the travel plan that’s been provided by the club and they will look for alternative methods of travelling to the club, be it by train, by bus or by sharing more people in a car.
“Turning to the risk that matchday parking would be displaced into areas not covered by the scheme, the club’s reports strongly suggest that fans will park in the car parking spaces in the city centre and I hope that is proven to be right.
“If fans cannot park in residential side streets one hopes they are actually displaced into the city centre.
“I spoke with the Chief Officer for Environment this morning and he assured me that a matchday residents parking scheme was not a strategic interest of his department.
“There is a solution offered to you in the original report and now somebody has decided to put a line through that.
“We’ve got video evidence of people in wheelchairs being forced to ride in the middle of the road and there have been incidences where people in wheelchairs have been hit. That’s totally unacceptable.
“There’s also concerns at times over people double parking, which means residents are deeply concerned that fire engines and blue light vehicles will struggle to get into their estates.
“We did a survey about three years ago when the original report for the Kop stand was brought to Planning Committee and about 40% of the houses in my ward responded said they’d had an altercation with a fan. I have even had a similar experience.
“People urinate in people’s gardens, people dump their rubbish out their cars. So if those fans are no longer on the streets simply because there is a residents parking scheme then you as a committee will actually give a lot of reassurance to the residents I represent and also other residents that are in other wards.”
Members of the Planning Committee were understanding of residents’ concerns and approved the plans with a commitment so investigate the viability of imposing a residents matchday parking scheme near the Racecourse. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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