Apartments plan for Grace Road

By Paul Bolton, County News Correspondent

Leicestershire have unveiled plans to build 15 apartments at Grace Road in a scheme which they hope will bring in an extra £80,000 in revenue a year.

They plan to use their £1million loan from the England and Wales Cricket Board – a similar sum is being loaned to all eighteen first-class counties – to build the apartments on the site of a disused toilet block at the Bennett End of Grace Road. The flats will then be let to bring in the vital income to the club which last week announced a loss of £254,000 for last year.

“They will be built in the disused top corner of the ground alongside Milligan Road,” said Leicestershire chief executive Mike Siddall. “They will be high-quality apartments which should bring in income to the club of £80,000 a year and will really help towards the sustainability of the club.

“The ECB loan is massive for us. If we don’t get the income from the apartments it means we have to find it in another way. So it should help us to release money for players and facilities. It helps towards the bottom line.”

Leicestershire will seek planning permission for the apartments alongside approval for the community sports hall which they also hope to develop at the Bennett End. The sports hall is proposed to be the new home of the Leicester Riders basketball club and is a joint venture between the two sports clubs and Leicester College.

Some of the ECB money will also be used to improve Sky Sports television facilities at Grace Road with new gantries planned for both ends of the ground.

Leicestershire have planned an open meeting to give local residents the chance to see plans of their ground developments which will be held at Grace Road on February 23 between 10am and 2pm.


Date: 08/02/2013 08:00:00 by Paul Bolton
In: Today | Leicestershire |