SCOTWASTE MONARCHS ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR NEW HOME

NEWS Monday 10th May 2010, 11:00am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs are delighted to announce that they have, today, lodged a pre planning application to build a speedway stadium on a fourteen acre site at South Couston, Bathgate, just one mile north east, as the crow flies, from their existing home in Armadale.

Club Chairman Alex Harkess said, "It is an exciting time for the Club as we enter a period of discussion with the local community over our stadium plans. We believe that we have located a site that will have no impact, either with noise, or the main problem we have at the moment, parking. We will be entirely self contained within our site with parking facilities well in excess of our current state. We hope to secure full planning consent by later this year to allow us to begin construction before the end of 2010. We are targeting staging the first meeting at the new site in April 2011."

The new site will feature a speedway circuit with related facilities, a cover enclosure with seating for 500 and cover for a further 1000. Within this enclosure will be food outlets, club shop, bar, offices and elsewhere on the site will be hospitality units. The track will be constructed to International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) standards to allow for the staging of world events in the future. An additional mini track will also be situated on another part of the site to allow for the establishment of the Scottish Speedway Academy. It is also the intention to open dialogue with the local community with a view to developing facilities for the benefit of the local residents.

Concluded Harkess, "We've looked at other recently developed speedway circuits and believe that by incorporating the best ideas with many excellent ideas of our own we will be able to develop a stadium that West Lothian will be proud of and will allow the Monarchs to reign supreme in the area that they now call home."