Football club's stadium plan to progress further

A football club's plan to build a new stadium on a council-owned site will be progressed further after senior councillors agreed to back a conditional disposal of land.

Maidenhead United wants to use land at Braywick Park, owned by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM), for a new 5,000-capacity stadium.

The club have played at York Road since 1871, which is thought to be the oldest senior football ground in the world to be continually used by the same club.

RBWM's cabinet approved a plan to dispose of the site for the stadium - which must still be granted planning permission before it can be built - on the condition other improvements for the park and around it are secured.

An initial £2m lump sum that the club would pay on the completion of a 999-year lease would be spent in the Braywick Park area, the council said.

The money would be used for expanding Braywick Nature Centre, as well as refurbishing Braywick Park's athletics track.

It said it would also look to extend the lease for Maidenhead Rugby Club "to enable investment and long-term security".

The first pictures of how the new stadium might look were released by the club earlier this month.

In January, the council agreed to carry out a public open space consultation in order to progress the proposals.

The council said it received 148 objections to the project, with concerns including the loss of open space, traffic and a potential impact on park users.