Greens oppose Bath stadium plans despite strong public support
There's more than 10 times as many comments in favour of the plans as there are against them
Last updated 6th Nov 2023
The Greens on Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) Council say plans for a new Bath Rugby stadium in the city, will "cause misery for residents", despite public opinion appearing to be overwhelmingly in favour of the idea.
In September, the rugby club submitted their long-awaited plans to build an 18,000-seat “Stadium for Bath” on the Recreation Ground (Rec).
A public consultation on the plans closed over the weekend (4 November) with more than 1,000 comments in favour compared to just 85 objections.
Among the voices opposed to the development are the three Green councillors on BANES Council including Saskia Heijltjes, who has called the proposals "car centric".
“Transport plans for this application are not sufficient and could result in thousands of new car journeys into a UNESCO world heritage city for every game, at a time when we have to significantly reduce car miles if we are to meet the council’s own climate targets," she said.
“The application is woefully poor in its transport obligations and appears to be car-centric.
"The additional use of the stadium beyond rugby will cause misery for residents across the city and this clearly needs to be rethought and significantly changed.”
Meanwhile Joanna Wright, who leads the Green group on the council, said: “Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and this proposed development imposes a massive stadium which will impact important views from the city of Bath and also the centre of the city from the east.
"People come to Bath for the views, and this new stadium will directly affect how we all see the city of Bath.
“It is clearly over-development in the heart of the city.”
The Green’s other councillor, Sam Ross, added: “The stadium will be an exclusive and privately controlled recreational space with no benefit to residents, local businesses, or the city.
"The retained space would be severely compromised in terms of the sporting activities which it could and should be accommodating.”
Based at the Rec, Bath Rugby currently spends about a million pounds a year on temporary stands they have to assemble and disassemble each season.
The club’s CEO Tarquin McDonald said, as the plans were submitted: “If we were not able to redevelop it, it calls into question our ability to stay here long term. … That would be tragic for the city and the club.”
The club say that the stadium will have a “contemporary and sensitive design” and that the new hybrid pitch will increase community and amateur use. A traffic assessment also submitted stated that the increase in traffic on a match day would be “negligible”
The chair of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s planning committee has called for the decision on whether to grant planning permission for the stadium to be decided by them in a public meeting, although no date has yet been publicly set.
You can view the planning application here, although comments have now closed.