Aston Villa want to increase the capacity of Villa Park to above 50,000
Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa
Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa(Image: Ryan Browne/REX/Shutterstock)
Plans to extend Villa Park’s North Stand have been recommended for approval. The Birmingham City Council planning committee is expected to vote on the proposals next Thursday, August 28.
Villa are seeking permission to add nearly 6,000 seats to the North Stand, taking the stadium’s capacity to almost 49,000. Further seating upgrades elsewhere in the ground would lift total capacity to more than 50,000.
Under the revised scheme, the current North Stand would be adapted and reused, increasing its own capacity to more than 12,000. This replaces the club’s original 2022 plan to demolish and rebuild the stand.
Demolition had been slated for last summer, but former president of business operations Chris Heck paused the project in December 2023, seven months after joining the club.
He claimed demolishing the stand was a “bad idea” as it would have reduced overall Villa Park capacity to 36,000 from the start of this season until the end of next.
The club has also stressed that any capacity increase must be matched by improvements to local transport.
West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has committed - via his campaign manifesto - to rebuilding Witton Station, a development that enables Villa to proceed with the North Stand works.
He said recently that a government commitment to spend up to £2.4bn on the region’s transport infrastructure had “enough headroom” to support his manifesto commitment too.
Without that commitment, Villa would have had to reassess both the redevelopment and their ability to remain a UEFA Euro 2028 host venue.
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