For Earlsfield Residents - Development at Dog Track site

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AFC Wandsworth are planning to redevelop the dog track site on Plough Lane. The plan includes demolishing the existing stadium and replacing it with a new 11,000-20,000 seat football stadium and a development of 600 new homes.

There is going to be a pre-planning application meeting so the developers can get feedback from locals at Tooting Leisure Centre from 12-8pm on Friday 27th June and 10amm-2pm Saturday 28th June.

I can't work out how I feel about it personally. On the one hand it's got to look better than the dog track, on the other I wonder about an influx of so many people every weekend.

Hi. Bit of a typo there I think - it's AFC Wimbledon. The stadium will start at a capacity of 11,000. People arrive and disperse very quickly from stadia these days and of course it won;t be every weekend, just one saturday afternoon in two and the odd evening, and of course no activity for 2-3 months in the summer. As you say, the dog track is rundown and neglected. I think it's a great boost to the area and will bring in more jobs and help the economy.

I'm a Wimbledon parent and I'm very much in favour of the new development. A few doors away there's a small boy who's desperate to have this development because he's a football fanatic and wants to join an AFC Wimbledon football course.

This development will be a huge benefit to the community and will bring much needed economic activity. The dog track area is currently rather soul-less, very ugly and underused - very depressing.

Oops - yes AFCWimbledon.

Thanks for clarifying about how it works David - as you can tell I'm not very knowledgeable about football.

I think it's a super initiative. Removes an ugly, run down stadium (not to mention what is, in my opinion, a cruel sport) and replaces it with a community hub and a football club for locals, especially children, to call their own. Anything that gives children an opportunity to both play and be inspired by sport has to be a good thing.

My understanding is that people traffic will be carefully managed and fans disburse very quickly from much larger venues so this shouldn't be problematic.

There's also likely to many job opportunities, certainly enough to replace any lost by the greyhound stadium going, many times over. Another plus.

All in all exciting times for the community - good luck AFC Wimbledon!

Here's an artist's impression of the proposed new stadium from the planning exhibition.

The plan is apparently:

Demolition of the current stadium
To build (in stages) a high-quality 20,000-seat stadium suitable for Championship level football. The initial stadium will open with a capacity of approximately 11,000 seats, with hospitality
Approximately 600 new homes with basement parking, delivered by Galliard Homes
A squash/fitness club with contemporary training facilities
Local retail space
Approximately 330 car parking spaces and cycle parking
High quality landscaping throughout

And here's another image of how the stadium would look from the outside