TOWN fans have welcomed the announcement of a potential £20m redevelopment of the County Ground.

As reported in the Adver on Wednesday, Swindon Town Football Club have selected one of a number of schemes proposed by project management firm Frank Whittle Partnership.

The plan could see the County Ground gain a new roof, similar to that of Bolton Wanderers’ Reebok Stadium, as well as increased capacity.

Nigel Bennett, a spokesman for the Swindon Town Supporters’ Club, said the announcement would be a welcome one for long-term fans and the local community.

He said: “I think long-term fans have been looking forward to potential ground improvements for many years now and any move in that direction can be regarded as a positive from the fans’ perspective. It will have a really good impact on the area.

“As a fan and supporter we see a number of developments in other areas which has given those areas a real boost in terms of look and feel and one hopes Swindon and the community will embrace any potential development in this way.

“I suppose that, and this is a personal opinion, as time progresses the view is the County Ground is the right venue. While some clubs have benefited from moving to a new greenfield site there are some issues around that so I think the majority of fans will prefer the County Ground to be developed.”

Andrew Fitton, Swindon Town chairman, is hopeful that things will go smoothly with the council and if all goes well work on the development could start as early as May.

He said: “I don’t see any problems with that, we’ve had positive dialogue. I don’t expect them to be saying no, more maybe. I want to get that discussion started. We could start work in May, but that is not a definite.

“The next few weeks are going to be key. It’s an important site in Swindon so there is a lot that needs to be discussed.”

Mr Fitton hopes that the development will lead to the town having a stadium fit for Championship football. He said: “It will be bigger than the existing stadium. It is designed for the Championship, we think that Swindon can sustain a Championship football team. In our time here we have seen crowds rise by 20 to 25 per cent. The big rise would come if we were in the Championship. We would plan for the future, plan for extra capacity.”