Tuesday 18th May 10

Salford City Reds will move into their long-awaited new stadium by the end of 2011, the club announced today.

The £26million, 15,000-capacity community stadium, which has been in the planning for more than a decade, moved a significant step closer when work officially began to prepare the 70-acre site at Barton, just off the M60 near Manchester.

Salford’s long-serving chairman John Wilkinson hailed it as “a landmark event” which is central to the club’s bid to retain their place in the Engage Super League.

The Reds will move out of their century-old home at The Willows at the end of next season and become primary tenants at the new stadium, which will be run by a joint venture company formed by Salford City Council and developers Peel.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency is funding the £4m cost of preparing the site and construction is due to start in October.

A delivery date of December 2011 has been agreed in order to strengthen the Reds’ bid for a new Engage Super League licence earlier in the year.

Detailed proposals for the scheme are to be considered by council planners in August with development phased so that retail units will be added at a later date.

Officials say funding for the construction work will come from a loan from the city council and will be repaid through the sale of the developed land to retail tenants and through income generated from the use of the facilities, including car parking, advertising and conference and banqueting hire.

Wilkinson said: “Today is a landmark event in the history of the Salford club and certainly one of the most momentous I can remember throughout my long involvement with the Reds.

“It is the beginning of the end of one of the toughest journeys the club has ever been on.”

Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and St Helens are all aiming to move into new stadia in time for the start of the next set of Engage Super League licences in 2012.