Bid to protect speedway from development welcomed

Campaigners have welcomed proposals to give a former speedway stadium more protection from development.

Rugby Borough Council submitted a proposal as part of its Local Plan to support the restoration of Brandon Stadium in Coventry for speedway or stock car racing, as well as other motorsports and community uses.

The council said planning permission at the former site of the Coventry Bees racing team would not be granted for any schemes that conflict with that.

Wayne Roberts from the site's former racing team said the council's "forward thinking" had offered some "renewed hope".

"We've had so many false dawns so to have the council supporting bringing the stadium back and keeping, it's what people need," he said.

"There's so many stock car people that desperately want Brandon back so they can do racing - we need the stadium so we can have some entertainment."

The Coventry Bees stopped racing at the stadium, which is currently derelict, in 2016, after failing to reach a deal.

The stadium's owners Brandon Estates previously planned to build 124 homes and football pitch with a pavilion, on the site off Rugby Road, but the plans to demolish the speedway for housing were rejected in January 2024.

A public consultation on the council's proposal is open until 19 May.

Jeff Davies from the campaign group Save Coventry Speedway and Stox (SCS) said gaining more voices to back the authority's plan was "critical" for the site.

"We would like to get people who support the restoration of the stadium and the return of the sport to write to the council and state their support for this policy."

He said despite how long it had been since the stadium last opened, he believed there would still be a big appetite for the sport.

"We've seen what's happened in Oxford, their stadium closed for 15 years and reopened in 2022, the teams there now have the biggest attendance in the country.

"It's a sign that people don't know what they've lost until it's gone. They came back in their thousands."

Mr Davies added that he was "absolutely sure" it would be the same case in Coventry.

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