Floodlights being installed at Hereford FC stadium
The works are set to take place over the next two weeks
Hereford FC is finally getting planning approval to install new floodlights at Edgar Street stadium in the city, averting potential calamity for the club.
Approval from National Highways, which manages the A49 Edgar Street alongside the ground, appears to finally have been forthcoming after an outcry led by the city’s MP Jesse Norman.
The club announced on its website that, all being well, it can now press on with the plan to fit the energy-saving, directional LED lighting system as early as Monday (14 October).
It aims to complete the work within two weeks – in time for the Bulls home game against Farsley Celtic October 26.
Club chairman Chris Ammonds had earlier warned that the issue threatened the club’s future, if either the current "enormous, old-fashioned" pylon-mounted lights were to fail mid-season, or if delays prevented the club accessing funding for their replacements.
He has now thanked everyone involved with the club "for the work that’s been done in recent weeks to get planning approval over the line".
"Specifically, I’d like to thank our contractor, Musco, National Highways Midlands and Herefordshire Council for their support," he said.
"While this has been a drawn out process, there has been a real urgency to collate all the information required of late."
He also paid tribute to Mr Norman, who "emphasised to senior figures at Highways quite how important our new floodlights are for the future of the club".
And he thanked the Football Foundation and the Marches Growth Hub whose funding had enabled the "dream" of installing new floodlights, and the club’s stadium director Darren Ball "for his incredible efforts leading on this project".
He added that while the old floodlights "are iconic in terms of their design and structure, unfortunately the light produced has for many years been borderline in terms of being of the standard required".
The club has already demolished the dilapidated Blackfriars End and the ground’s north end this summer in anticipation of the spot’s redevelopment, and installing the new floodlights will be "another important milestone for our club", Mr Ammonds said.