Sweet confirms Luton are 'on track' to deliver detailed planning application for Power Court in first half of 2022

Luton chief executive Gary Sweet has confirmed that the club remain ‘on track’ to deliver their detailed planning application for a new stadium at Power Court in the next few months.

After initially receiving planning permission for the 17,500 all-seater stadium back in January 2019, the Hatters have seen their attempts to move away from Kenilworth Road delayed significantly by the coronavirus pandemic which has led to a major rethink of their plans.

Back in October 2021, 2020 Developments, the property arm of the club, saw revised proposals, without the ground, unanimously approved by the Luton Borough Council development management committee.

Meanwhile, Luton also announced they had struck a deal to sell their Newlands Park site, needed to finance the new ground, to an investment fund advised by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) and the UK developer Wrenbridge, with both planning applications for the north and south site also passed by the council last month.

Attention now turns to delivering the plans for the new stadium at Power Court, with Sweet insisting they would be revealed in the first half of 2022.

Writing his programme notes ahead of Saturday’s 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion, he stated that was still the intention, saying: "This sets me up nicely to provide a brief update on stadium relocation matters.

“Without getting technical and boring, there’s little specific to say at this time despite so much activity behind the scenes taking up a vast majority of my time.

“But, I can assure you that all is going to plan, even if that plan gets more difficult by the harsh further decline in the retail market (brought about by the pandemic) and the sharp increase in materials and labour prices.

“But we’ve never hidden from a challenge and are taking these obstacles in our stride.

“We are still on track for a ‘first-half’ 2022 detailed planning application at which point those plans will be made public.

“We’re also in the middle of engaging with the various stakeholder supporters’ groups on specific matters relating to them, such as Hatters Heritage and our Disabled Supporters Association.

“Further questionnaires will ask for your feedback in due course too, to gather more intelligence on your opinions on matters such as safe-standing, hospitality and travel.

“Your response levels are always amazingly engaging, for which we thank you.

“Over the next few weeks, you’ll notice some activity at Power Court as the site gets tidied up in general, some buildings start to get demolished and we carry out more exploratory work on certain groundworks, all in readiness.

“Thank you for your patience, it won’t be in vain.”