Ards Football Club's proposed new ground
As revealed by Sunday Life Sport last month, Ards Football Club has submitted a planning application for a 2,000-capacity ground in Newtownards.
The club hope to build a new Premiership-ready stadium that will include two seated stands, changing rooms, floodlights and a car park. Costed at £4million, the ground will feature 830 seats.
The Playr-Fit Championship club hope to build the new arena on a six-acre plot of land known as the Floodgates, just a few hundred yards away from their traditional home of Castlereagh Park.
Ards Chairman Warren Patton said, "We are pleased to confirm that we submitted plans for a new ground to the relevant authorities.
"We have been working towards this day since we signed the lease on the Floodgates land in August 2022.
"We look forward to working with Ards and North Down Borough Council and all the people of Ards area as we aim to make our dream of returning home a reality."
Since leaving Castlereagh Park in 2001, Ards have played home games at Solitude, Taylor's Avenue, Dixon Park and their current home Clandeboye Park.
The club’s board signed a long-term lease on the Ards and North Down Borough Council-owned land in August 2022. They now hope to secure planning permission for the ambitious project in the next few months.
Vice Chair Stephen Wilton added, "A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to reach this point, and there is still a long way to go but we believe we are on the right path.
"This is another step towards home."
Read on belfasttelegraph.co.uk