By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter
A Nottinghamshire football club’s home ground will be knocked down and replaced with housing once the side has relocated to a new home, new plans show.
The Lido Ground, home to Clipstone Football Club, would be demolished and replaced with up to 130 new homes if the proposals are approved.
Permission has already been given in October for a new and improved sports complex to be built on the nearby site of the former Clipstone Colliery.
The new planning application gives assurances no work will begin on the Lido Ground until the new sports facilities were open, meaning ‘The Cobras’, as the club are known, and other users wouldn’t lose out.
The current five-acre site on Clipstone Road East has a football pitch, cricket pitch, a 500-space football stand and clubhouse.
The new application has been submitted by Cerda Planning Ltd on behalf of Welbeck Estates Ltd.
It says the new football ground “will not only replace the existing facilities of the Lido Ground, but will seek to enhance the facilities on offer.
“Only once the new facilities have been provided would work begin to redevelop the Lido Ground.”
Credit: Cerda Planning Ltd
The Lido was once popular with families thanks to its several open-air swimming pools, which were built in the 1960s.
Planning documents say residents gave the new housing plans a “supportive response” during a consultation session at Clipstone Miner’s Welfare.
The new homes would be one to four bedrooms, and would include some set aside for affordable renting.
Two versions of the possible layout for the site have been submitted, depending on how much of a flooding prevention plan is needed.
The application says tests are needed on the ground to determine this, which would disturb the pitches and can only be completed after the clubs have left.
Both versions would see the entrance moved 20m west along the road.
The majority of the development lies in Mansfield District, although a small part lies across the boundary in Newark & Sherwood District Council’s jurisdiction, meaning approval will be needed from both councils before the plans move forward.
Founded in 1928, Clipstone currently play in Division One of the United Counties League, which is level 10 in the national football pyramid.
