Welcome to Spalding! Step one of United’s ground improvements passed - but could Tulips be the next Wrexham?

It’s game on for Spalding United after councillors gave them permission to keep two stands and dug at their ground - but could the Tulips be the next Wrexham?

The club’s recent rapid rise up the footballing ladder - and increased attendances - led one representative to question whether United could follow in the footsteps of the Welsh side, owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who have won three consecutive promotions to climb up from non-league to the Championship.

“My son enjoys going to see them regularly and, although he’s not dragged me along yet, it is gaining momentum and something we need to think of in the future,” Coun Andrew Tennant suggest at South Holland District Council’s planning committee meeting on Wednesday (May 7).

“Perhaps Spalding will do a Wrexham and in 10 years time we’ll be looking for a ground that takes 20,000 on the outskirts of Spalding, but at the moment this planning application is not going to cause a nuisance to Spalding, so I’ll support it.”

With the prominence of their A-list owners and the support of a Disney+ documentary series, high-profile Wrexham have managed to attracted a large fanbase from across North America and beyond, many of whom have travelled to North Wales to take in a game, while the club’s success has also galvanised local support.

Tulips owner Andrew Killingsworth may not be quite as recognisable as Deadpool star Reynolds or McElhenney, famous for appearing in comedy series It’s Always Sunny In Phildadelphia, but he has proven highly successful in the business world and his backing has seen the Tulips move up to step three of the football pyramid, narrowly missing out on a spot in play-offs this season.

It is due to this swift success that United had to kick off last season at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field with a 100-seater spectator area, standing terrace and new dug-outs in place at their town centre stadium following their title win and subsequent promotion to the Southern League Central Premier.

The Tulips had to move fast to have the infrastructure in place to meet ground grading requirements of their new level or face demotion back to step four.

On Wednesday, the planning committee at SHDC - who are custodians of the stadium and agreed to grant the club a 25-year lease in August - unanimously voted to allow the club’s request for retrospective planning permission.

This will come as a huge relief to the club, not only because they can maintain their standing in the Southern League Central Premier, but also because they recently announced plans for a further £1 million investment, which will include an artificial playing surface and improvements to to the stands and dressing room areas.

“The application has arisen due to the need to upgrade the club’s facilities for spectators and team staff,” Kate Wood, acting for agent Eddisons, Barker, Storey, Matthews, told Wednesday’s meeting.

“It was required urgently, hence its retrospective nature.

“I hope you agree the proposals have minimum effect on the larger area but they are vital to the success of the club they service.”

Support for the proposal came from Coun Paul Redgate, who moved to pass the plans.

“As an authority, we took the decision to work with Spalding United on the lease to secure this facility, to see the improvements and look at the benefits the club would gain from that,” he said.

“We’re seeing that already with increased attendances and the fact they are seeking promotion further up the pyramid.

“These are the things we couldn’t do (as custodians of the stadium), this the benefit of having a lease at the football club in terms of seeing the facility improved.”

Further backing came from Coun Andrew Woolf, who labelled the ground upgrade ‘long overdue’.

“This is something that we need to get behind,” he told the chamber.

“Spalding United seem to be on the up and successful, and I wouldn’t want to think it would be this authority that’s restricting their continued success by not having a ground fit for purpose for the standards they achieve.

“In addition to their continued success, there could be an economic improvement as, as the team progresses, we’ll get larger followings and hopefully that will help the town as well.

“I don’t see any issues with what’s going in and think it’ll be an improvement.

“Looking at the history of the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field, nothing has gone in there, in terms of a planning application, for 32 years. It says 1993, so it’s long overdue.”

In response, committee chairman Coun James Avery quipped ‘let’s hope that football brings footfall’.

However, rugby fan Coun Paul Barnes - who said he had ‘no real problem with a stand for a game which uses the wrong shaped ball’ - did state he was ‘concerned’ that the retrospective nature of the application meant a stand had been allowed to be erected on council-owned land without the authority’s permission.

When officers told Coun Barnes the work was carried out in July last year, he added: “I don’t think at that time of last year we had actually leased to the football club.

“We’ve allowed a building to go up without allowing planning permission. It raises a bit of a concern that’s South Holland District Council owned land.”

Speaking to LincsOnline last week, Tulips CEO Leigh Porter said that had the application not been passed it would have caused ‘an issue’ for the club.

“We’re a club that doesn’t want to go backwards, we want to go forwards,” he added.

While the new stands will not increase capacity at the stadium it does offer additional shelter for supporters.