New Bristol City stadium would be sunk into the ground

A new stadium for Bristol City FC would be sunk into the ground to help minimise the impact on people living nearby.

The Evening Post exclusively revealed the latest images of the new £65 million stadium at the weekend.

Architects, consultants and experts on a wide range of issues which deal with planning matters have been drawing up a scheme that meets the needs of the area – not just the football club – for the past 15 months.

A planning application has now been formally submitted to the city council and North Somerset Council which must decide whether to give their backing.

Ian Cawley, development director for the stadium project, said he had been in constant touch with council planners since the scheme first reached the drawing board.

He said: "We have done an awful lot of work to get to this point, where we meet the needs of the club, the people who live nearby and the regeneration of the area."

He said one of the priorities was to make sure that residents in Silbury Road were not overshadowed. To this end, the new stadium would be sunk in the ground to reduce its impact on the area.

Mr Cawley is confident that a deadline can be met to reach a decision on the stadium plan. The city council must give its verdict before November 6.

That is when the council must hand in its bid to the Football Association to stage World Cup games in the city.

The FA hopes to win permission from FIFA to host the World Cup tournament in 2018.

Comments will be taken right up until the planning application is discussed by councillors – probably at a specially-convened meeting in October.

The sheer size of the application and the fact that the stadium would be built on greenbelt land means that a final decision will have to be taken by the Government Office for the South West (GOSW).

But Mr Cawley said the important issue, as far as the FA was concerned, was to see that the city council backed the plan.

If the stadium goes ahead and the FA wins the World Cup bid, then tournament games could come to Bristol. This could bring £100 million to the local economy.