League Championship side Queens Park Rangers hopes to "draw up plans soon for a new 30,000-seat stadium on the site of the Linford Christie athletics track in west London," according to Gary Jacob of the LONDON TIMES. The club has "scaled down" its "ambitious project," announced four years ago, to leave Loftus Road for a 40,000-capacity ground, which it "had hoped to be playing in by next year." That scheme was part of a "wider regeneration plan for the area" but has been "bogged down by delays and political uncertainty." The club now aims to build a "smaller stadium on council-run land in the shadow of Wormwood Scrubs prison." It intends to knock down the Linford Christie Stadium, home to the Thames Valley Harriers, and build a new ground with a new athletics track adjacent to it. The estimated construction cost is said to be "substantially cheaper" than the reported £200M cost of the original plan. The proposed stadium would be funded by the QPR owners -- Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal -- and property developments, including a £175M ($218.7M) joint venture project with Genesis Housing Association, which "already has planning permission," and the sale of Loftus Road, which is a mile to the south and has been the club's home since 1917. Complexities "arise," however, in the form of who owns the stadium and the surrounding land. It is "unclear whether the club would buy or take a long lease on the site given the planning constraints" (LONDON TIMES, 2/9). The BBC reported QPR has held informal talks with Hammersmith & Fulham Council about the "feasibility" of building a new stadium and adjacent athletics track on the site. The club confirmed that the idea is being discussed but "is at a very early stage, with much work to do before any proposal is brought forward." CEO Lee Hoos said, "We are looking at all possible options to secure the future of the club in Hammersmith & Fulham and benefit the community" (BBC, 2/9).
