Latest expansion of Villa Park gets green light

Plans to fill in two corners at Villa Park will nudge the stadium’s capacity towards 50,000 seats ahead of Euro 2028, after being given the go-ahead by Birmingham City Council.

Around 500 seats will be added by the latest proposals put forward by Aston Villa, which will see the south-west and south-east corners of Villa Park filled in with extra seats, along side the relocation of both an LED scoreboard and an event control building.

The scheme, combined with a separate and more high-profile redevelopment planned to add 6,000 seats to the club’s North Stand, will raise the club’s capacity for Premier League matchdays to just over 49,000 from its current capacity of 42,640.

The improvements will be completed in time for Villa Park to host four fixtures in the men’s Euro 2028 international tournament, along with planned capacity upgrades to Witton and Aston railway stations, which provide the main public transport route to and from the stadium on matchdays.

A supporting statement for the proposals by planning consultants WSP said the club was responding to an expectation from tournament organisers UEFA that the capacity of the stadium reaches over 50,000.

“This application forms a key part of achieving this target, with the capacity of these parts of the stadium increasing to around 900-seats through this application, and the balance being secured through optimisation works that don’t require planning permission,” it said.

Public transport improvements will be discussed at the West Midlands Combined Authority’s board meeting on Friday, with the board planning to set a £25m budget for the station upgrades under a £2.4bn programme of improvements for the region funded by central government, known as Transport for City Regions(TCR).

Plans for an upgraded Witton station, a destination for around 8,000 passengers on a matchday along with nearby Aston station, were first unveiled in 2023.

The upgrades would be delivered in two phases, a first stage to increase queuing capacity and improve passenger experiences ahead of the Euros in 2028, with an unspecified second phase of improvements aimed at “unlocking wider growth and regeneration opportunities”.

“The case for upgrading Witton (and Aston) stations is based on a transport and disruption need, with particular reference to the large-scale events hosted at Villa Park which cause significant disruption to local roads and residents,” said a report to the WMCA board set to be discussed on 14 November.

“The upgrade of Witton (and Aston) stations is an early consideration within the TCR portfolio due to the urgent need to make improvements at both stations ahead of the UEFA European Football Championships and the wider regeneration planned around the clubs other activities.”

The move comes amid a renewed push from elite English football clubs to add capacity to their stadiums, as part of efforts to increase matchday revenue streams.

Research published by Deloitte earlier this year showed matchday revenue accounted for around 25% of income for Premier League clubs in 2023/24, with Aston Villa ranked 18th in the world for total revenue – raking-in just over £310m during the season.

Upgrades to Witton and Aston railway stations will be discussed by the West Midlands Combined Authority on Friday, 14 November.