Ex-Premier League side eye up leaving iconic home as new stadium plans submitted

One of English football’s most iconic stadiums could soon be a thing of the past after Luton submitted plans to leave Kenilworth Road.

The Hatters have announced they submitted a formal application to Luton Borough Council on Friday to build a new 25,000-capacity ground at its Power Court site in the heart of the town centre.

And with the Championship side announcing a target completion date of 2027, fans may have just three years left to enjoy Luton’s historic home of 119 years.

Supporters up and down the country have fallen in love with the 12,000-seater stadium, which has its away end cut into a row of terraced houses.

But it’s low capacity has proven to be problematic, with the ground having to be upgraded last season to meet the Premier League’s requirements for broadcasters.

Kenilworth Road is even the small stadium in the Championship, with Oxford’s Kassam Stadium a close second with 12,500 seats.

And now Luton look to move into a stadium over double in capacity size, with the club stating it will mark a ‘regenerative era for the town’.

In a club statement, Luton chairman David Wilkinson said: “As an invested observer into this project it was staggering to see the amount of work that has gone into every detail, with such exceptional craftmanship.

“We appreciate some may be anxious to see some visible progress – as indeed we all are.

“But the sheer volume of forced changes brought about by society, politics, economic forces and our very own growth, has ultimately led to a bigger, better, more ambitious, more beautiful and more sustainable end product which we are all excited to present.

“We all need to positively get behind our team now to hope that, while we watch the cranes put the concrete and steel in place, the wonderful new stadium debuts as the home to a Premier League team.”

Meanwhile Gary Sweet, chief executive of Luton and the club’s development company, 2020 Developments, added: “This important announcement is a pivotal moment for all supporters, residents and businesses of Luton.

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“Once our lives changed 16 months ago with promotion at Wembley, concurrent to the gargantuan task of getting Kenilworth Road Premier League ready – which naturally dominated our workload for most of last year – we decided to reassemble a design team to take a fresh look at the whole Power Court project from foundations upwards.”

While things look to be promising off the pitch for Luton, the same can’t be said for their fortunes on it.

Rob Edwards’ side have enjoyed a poor start to the new season, having failed to win any of their opening four second-tier matches.

Sitting 23rd in the table, they have picked up just one point having lost three matches.

It has led to intense pressure on boss Edwards, who shunned Premier League interest in the summer to stay on at Luton.

But he will be hoping luck is on their side on Saturday when they travel to Millwall.

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