EXPANDING AFC Bournemouth’s stadium is ‘essential’ if the club is going to recognise its ambition to play European football within the next five years.

BCP Council’s draft local plan features proposals to create a masterplan for Kings Park, which would include growing the stadium’s capacity.

The draft plan says: “Kings Park would benefit from a masterplan that considers enhanced stadium capacity for AFC Bournemouth and enhancement of Kings Park Athletics Centre alongside other improvements.”

In the consultation on the plan, Cherries said it was ‘generally supportive’ of it but highlighted some areas of concern that may hinder its stadium plans, which are the next stage in its development strategy.

“As the club has made clear in media statements, there is currently no confirmed plan or timeline for this relocation, but it is considered important that the new local plan does nothing that would inadvertently frustrate what would undoubtedly be one of the largest single investments that the conurbation has seen,” the club’s response said.

“The club’s owner, Bill Foley, recently announced his desire for the club to qualify for European football within the next five years.

“The new training ground facility at Canford Magna is an important component in making this vision a reality.

“A new stadium with significantly enhanced capacity will be a requirement of a club playing at this level.”

The club supported the proposal to create a masterplan for Kings Park, but it suggested minor policy amendments to the plan, including around open space and green infrastructure.

The preferred site for the new ground is immediately to the south east of the current Dean Court stadium, with a new stadium able to boost the economic impact of the club on the area.

“Subject to the land required for a new stadium and associated works, an option could be to relocate the athletics stadium to an alternative location outside of the park,” the response said.

“While there are numerous stakeholders that would need to be engaged to test the desirability and feasibility of this, it is important that the site-specific policy does not preclude this from happening.”

It added: “AFCB has the smallest capacity stadium in the Premier League (only 11,329 seats) and this restricts the number of people able to watch matches and the revenue that the club is able to generate on match days.

“A larger stadium is essential to provide more people with the opportunity to watch games and to facilitate the ambition of playing European football within the next five years.”

The local plan has been submitted for independent examination, with BCP Council hoping to implement the plan in 2025.