FOREST GREEN ROVERS owner Dale Vince says he wants to see the club competing in League One by the time their new wooden stadium is built.
The National League club expect to have their new home ready in three years as long as planning permission is given in July.
Rovers revealed the big plans for the new stadium in November after Zaha Hadid’s almost exclusively wooden facility plans were picked.
A proposed ‘Gateway to Stroud’ was unveiled at a business breakfast on Wednesday, which included a new dual-carriageway on the A419, concept designs for Eco Park’s Green Technology Hub, the new Forest Green stadium, and a footbridge linking the two main sides of the development.
When asked how confident he was regarding planning permission, green energy tycoon Vince told Gloucestershire Live: “Planning is planning.
“We hope the outline application will be assessed favourably in July and detailed planning permission would take another 12 months. And we would still be another two years out from then. I’d like us to be League One by then.
“Over 30 per cent of people in Stroud district commute out to work and I think we can take a big chunk of that.”
An Ecotricity spokesman claimed the new Eco Park would be worth almost £300m to the Gloucestershire economy every year, creating up to 4,000 jobs.
Stroud MP Neil Carmichael added: “What we have seen is an exciting project. There is a long way to go however. Local residents and businesses will have to be consulted but if we are to make a success of Brexit then we have to be able to build our economy.”
