Plans approved for Leicester City training complex

Premier League football club Leicester City’s plans to create a new football training ground have been given the go-ahead.

The club has secured planning permission to turn a 185-acre golf and fishing complex off the A46, eight miles north of Leicester, into a £100M complex where the first team squad will practice.

Despite some local concerns, planning officers at Charnwood Borough Council said the club’s proposals were acceptable as the complex would be the most advanced in Europe.

The site will contain: a covered show pitch with 499 seats; spectator toilets and an elevated camera platform; 12 full size football pitches; six smaller grass pitches; two goalkeeper areas; five warm-up and technical training areas; a sports hall; hydrotherapy, medical, rehabilitation and dining facilities; 30 bedrooms for the players and management, and 421 parking spaces

It will also have education facilities and offices, and be the first sports turf academy in the country to train groundsmen.

A club spokesperson said: “We welcome the approval of our proposals by the planning committee and the opportunity to deliver on its pledge of a world-class facility befitting Leicestershire’s traditions of sporting excellence.”