Following their recent purchase, Macclesfield Town FC have submitted plans to Cheshire East Council for planned improvements to the club’s grounds.
The Moss Rose grounds, now rebranded as the Leasing.com Stadium, will receive a new community building, improved external cladding and an extension of club’s café to add a new reception area (pictured). It is hoped that approval can be granted to allow the work to complete ahead of the start of the 2021/22 football season, and as a result, some work on the site has already begun. Improved lighting and lay out of the car park have also been included in plans.
The community building at the centre of proposals aims to ensure the club can remain at the heart of the community in Macclesfield, and will include two classrooms for use by Macclesfield College BTEC students, as well as UCLan educational programmes. It will also be available for community use and venue hire, on matchdays as the existing Butches Bar for supporters.
Facilities will also help the club deliver ongoing outreach work, including delivering Active Science workshops in partnership with pharmaceuticals firm, AstraZeneca. The programme sees the Covid-vaccine developer and Macclesfield Town work with primary school children in the area to combine science education with sport and engage young minds with the science behind health. The club is also working with medical communications agency, Adelphi Communications, based in Bollington, on the Healthy Hearts Project.
Emery Planning, who are advising the club on the improvements, commented in the documents submitted to the council:
Since 1891, the Moss Rose has been the home of football in the town. A key part of the Club’s future is the upgrading of the infrastructure of the Stadium that will not only be the home of Macclesfield FC but a sporting, community and education centre for the town and its wider area.”
The latest phase of improvements to Macclesfield Town FC’s Leasing.com Stadium will add to previous planning applications for the site, including the replacement of the grass pitch with an artificial playing surface, and previous expansion of car parking facilities onto the site of a former pub.
