THE redevelopment of the County Ground is still in Swindon Town’s plans, despite the club sitting in the depths of the Football League.

A year ago the club announced a £20m facelift of the ground but their relegation to League Two meant the plans were put on hold earlier this year.

The redevelopment would see the stadium gain a roof akin to that of Bolton Wanderers’ Reebok Stadium, as well an increased capacity of 25,000.

In January, Town’s Annual General Meeting revealed major changes to those plans, however, with the capacity instead increased to 19,000.

In May the plans were put on hold when it became certain that the club would be playing in League Two this season, with the financial concerns that playing at such a level brought, and there were also some fears that the plans had been scrapped entirely.

However, within the last month the plans have been given a boost with the club saying that they are actively seeking third parties to make the project financially viable.

Chief executive Nick Watkins said: “In the last month we have re-energised our discussions with outside partners and corresponding with third parties to make a self-sustainable bid.

“The redevelopment plans were announced last year and since then we have had two problems: first was the relegation and the economy has been depressed with many redevelopment schemes going into holding.

“When we went to the council they were supportive of any redevelopment but they said it must be sustainable. They didn’t want it to get the go ahead and then hit the buffers and be left with a half-built stadium. Nobody does.

“We are trying to re-energise the process, though, and are assessing new opportunities.”

Mr Watkins was keen to stress that relegation should not affect the redevelopment and although the club on the pitch was a League Two side, off the pitch they were going from strength to strength.

“We are in League Two as a football side but we are not in League Two in terms of commercial capabilities and that is because of the fantastic work of my team,” he said.

“Clearly what happens on the pitch has an impact but whatever we do with regards to redevelopment it will all be aimed at moving us closer to that point of financial self-sustainability.

“We have the demand for the stadium – the crowd numbers this season have been fantastic with an average attendance of 7,500 or 8,000 people, which is a good crowd in League One, let alone League Two.

“But we still have lots of discussions to take place before we can go any further.”