The City of Edinburgh Council approved plans for the new sports stadium to replace the Meadowbank Stadium built in 1970 for the Commonwealth Games.
They have just announced that they will approve the appointment of a contractor to build the new stadium under a £39 million contract shortly.
Enabling works of £6.016 million have already been incurred, and the whole deal is based on the development of part of the site which might net around £24 million for the council.
When the council’s Finance Committee meets this Thursday to approve that appointment they will also be told that the Westbank site in Portobello will be withdrawn from the open market. The proceeds of that site were to be used to fund the Meadowbank reconstruction. The council wants a new master plan to be drawn up for that area to balance financial return and what locals want to see built there.
The council are still consulting the public about development of the remainder of the Meadowbank site and that consultation runs until 31 October 2018. Proposals have included using the land for at least 300 homes, student housing, commercial and retail, but no planning permission will be sought until the consultation period ends.
Save Meadowbank, a campaign which began over ten years ago, continues to fight against council plans for the site. They continue to criticise the council for admitting plans for 300 homes are still under consideration while the consultation continues. They want the council to stop all development at Meadowbank until there is a masterplan put in place for the whole site.
Meadowbank Stadium closed last year, and the council believe that a new stadium with associated facilities could attract around 600,000 people each year after it opens.
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