New hope for Wakefield Trinity out-of-town stadium?

Rugby League stadium plans have been offered a glimmer of hope after a planning application was sent to Wakefield Council.

Wakefield Trinity were to move to a new ground at Newmarket Lane until the project stalled and separate plans to redevelop Belle Vue were suggested.

A public row between the club and council left both options in tatters and Trinity set to leave the city.

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Planning permission for the Newmarket Lane stadium was also due to expire on December 5. But it now remains valid after separate “reserved matters” plans were submitted for industrial units at the site, a requirement imposed by the government in 2012.

Wakefield Council said the reserved matters planning application did not mean all conditions were now met for an agreement called a Unilateral Undertaking - which would compel developer Yorkcourt to build the stadium - to be enforced.

Neil Rodgers, the council’s service director for planning, said: “This reserved matters application means that the Newmarket outline planning permission remains live.

“However, it does not change the Unilateral Undertaking or the triggers that need to be met by the developer before the council can enforce the Unilateral Undertaking.”

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In a statement Wakefield and District Community Trust, set up to get the Newmarket stadium built, said the reserved matters application was an unexpected development.

Business tenants moving into the industrial units at Newmarket could lead to the stadium being built, said the trust.

The statement said: “We were resigning ourselves to the fact that the outline planning permission for the Newmarket Development was going to expire.

“The fact that Yorkcourt have applied for full planning for the remaining B8 and B1 Units on the site clearly means that they have already secured, or are very confident in securing, tenants for these units, which at long last signals the imminent building of the much-needed community stadium and a new home for Super League’s Wakefield Trinity.”