AFC Wimbledon are all set to return to the Plough Lane area
Saturday 12 December 2015 11:52, UK
AFC Wimbledon have been given the green light by Merton Council to return to Plough Lane and build a new stadium.
The League Two side want to leave Kingsmeadow so they can return to the area where they played until 1991, and they have received the all-clear after a lengthy period of consultation.
The stadium plan is for a 20,000-seater stadium with an initial capacity of 11,000 on the site of the current greyhound stadium and the plans include the provision to build 602 residential units, along with retail and commercial space and a leisure club.
And Thursday night's news will be greeted with delight by fans of the club, which re-formed in 2002 after Wimbledon were moved to Milton Keynes and renamed MK Dons.
AFC Wimbledon chief executive Erik Samuelson told the club's official website: "We are all absolutely delighted.
"This has been a momentous day for our club and the most important event since we re-formed it 13 years ago.
"Following the sale of our former Plough Lane site and the decision by the FA to allow Wimbledon FC's Football League place to be moved to Milton Keynes, our fans did something unprecedented in the football world.
"We decided to re-form the club, enter the football hierarchy at the lowest level, and repeat what the old Wimbledon FC did with massive success, namely make our way up through the many leagues into the Football League.
This has been a momentous day for our club and the most important event since we re-formed it 13 years ago.
"We started with nothing. No team, no stadium, no manager. Not even a strip to wear.
"But what was different this time was that the club was formed by and remains owned by the fans. In other words, we are firmly rooted in our community.
"We have never lost sight of that and so we have focused the majority of our community works on Merton, because this is our home and we are delighted that we have been granted planning approval to return to Wimbledon."
