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CAMBERLEY Town Football Club has drawn up a new set of plans to redevelop its grounds.

The latest proposal replaces a previous, controversial plan that the football club withdrew in the face of having it rejected by planners.

The club had applied to redevelop its Krooner Park ground into astroturf pitches and build a new football ground on the adjacent Crabtree Park, saying its current site was outdated.

The application sparked a planning row and a campaign group, The Friends of Crabtree Park, fought to keep the green space as it was.

Hundreds of people wrote both in support and against the plan but the club withdrew it last year, just before it was due to go to a council vote, after planning officers recommended it be turned down.

Now the football club has said it has come up with new plans that it says will ‘serve its future, bring community benefits and answer the objections brought forward by critics of previous schemes’.

The new proposals would see the current pitch rotated 90 degrees, the construction of a new clubhouse and seven 5-a-side all-weather pitches all on Krooner Park, with a car park built on Crabtree Park.

This will mean the ‘vast majority’ of the development does not infringe on Crabtree Park, the club said.

This weekend, the club will host a two-day exhibition from today (Friday) for members of the public to visit and inspect the plans for themselves, and give feedback.

The club said it felt it should consult with residents before putting a planning application in. It also said more than 5,000 leaflets had been delivered to residents and businesses, inviting them to attend.

Camberley Town FC chairman, Chris Goff, said: “We have listened to what people said and now we are consulting local residents and others on these new ideas in order to get their feedback before we consider putting in any planning application.

“The club has been on its present site for nearly 90 years and has been part of Camberley’s history for more than a century.

“We need to look forward to the future and, given the state of our current facilities, this means investment.

“Our proposals would also bring more community facilities to the area and some improvements for Crabtree Park subject to discussions with the community.”

The previous plans divided the community and MP Michael Gove stepped in to support the club’s plans.

However, in July last year, Surrey Heath Borough Council’s executive said Crabtree Park needed to be preserved. According to the council website, there were 2,200 responses in favour and 300 against the club’s original plans.

Lisa McSweeney, from the Friends of Crabtree Park, said the group would make a full statement after the exhibition when the full plans had been unveiled. She added that building on the park would raise ‘loads and loads of issues’, including the loss of trees and the wildlife present in the park.

The public exhibition will be at Krooner Park, off Wilton Road, from 11am to 8pm today (Friday) and 11am to 4pm tomorrow (Saturday).