The £60 million redevelopment of Shrewsbury Town’s former Gay Meadow home has been put on hold indefinitely due to the credit crunch with the once proud site now lying deserted.
Officials at Barratt Homes have said they have no immediate plans to build on the site, where planning consent has been granted for up to 173 homes and apartments. They have also said they will ‘re-explore’ the project with a view to potentially submitting new plans at some point in the future, claiming the current planning consent is ‘not viable’. The news comes in a week when Shrewsbury Town supporters unveiled plans for a new flag at the club’s new home the Prostar stadium proclaiming that Gay Meadow is ‘gone but not forgotten’.
Former land owners Barratt Chester opened a shop in the town last spring to show off the plans, but the sales centre has been removed from the site in recent weeks.
Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury’ s former football statium.
The site was home to Shrewsbury Town Football Club from 1910 to 2007 before the club moved to the Prostar stadium on Oteley Road. It has long been earmarked for housing, but since the ground was demolished minimal work has taken place.
John Rowson, planning manager for Barratt Homes, said: “The project is on hold. The main problem is the land was bought at the height of the market, and with the recession and depreciation in market values it’s not viable for us to construct what we have consent for.
“We have to re-explore the consent we have and we are looking at all kinds of options at the moment.”
Sonia Sohal, the company’s construction secretary, said there was no timescale on when any work would start, and said nothing would take place this year.
Ade Plimmer, spokesperson for supporter-run shrewsTRUST, said: “We hope at some point in the future that the site is developed.”
Mike Robinson, club programme contributor and Town fan for more than 50 years, said: “It’s very sad to see such a special site in such a state. Hopefully it will be rectified soon and something worthy of the history of the Gay Meadow will be built.”
EXCLUSIVE by Peter Kitchen.