| The Avenue | |
|---|---|
Final Game at The Avenue, against Saracens |
|
| Full name | The Avenue |
| Location | The Avenue, Sunbury-on-Thames, TW16 5EQ |
| Built | 1931 |
| Opened | 1931 |
| Owner | London Irish Holdings Ltd. |
| Surface | Grass |
| Capacity | 200 |
| Tenants | |
| London Irish, London Irish Amateur |
1931-1999 1999-present |
The Avenue is a Rugby Union stadium at Sunbury-on-Thames that has belonged to the English club London Irish since 1931 when the team purchased eleven acres to establish a club there. While the team moved to Madjeski Stadium in 1999, the stadium survived the team's 2009 proposed redevelopment plan, and remains the site of pre-season friendlies. The site also serves as a training facility for the "London Irish England Rugby Academy".
The ground was purchased in 1931 for £1,280 to be the home stadium for London Irish, before they left in 1999 to play at the Madjeski Stadium.[1] The ground then began to be used by the London Irish Amateur side.[2] However, it still contains London Irish's main offices and is the club's training ground.[3] London Irish played their last senior league game at The Avenue on 1 May 1999 against Saracens.[4] The stadium, however, still hosts the senior London Irish team's pre-season friendlies[5] and is also used as a training venue for the London Irish England Rugby Academy.[6] At its peak, The Avenue could hold up to 6,600 spectators.[7]
London Irish revealed in 2009 that they were planning to demolish their ancestral home ground and current training facility to replace it with 400 houses while relocating the club offices and training to the nearby Hazelwood Golf Centre.[8]
When their plans were revealed, at the planning meeting, the Spelthorne Liberal Democrats councillors opposed The Avenue redevelopment plans on the grounds that they disagreed with the Conservative policy that 80% of the new homes needed to have either one or two bedrooms. [9] It was also opposed by the Labour candidate for the Spelthorne parlimentary constituency in the 2010 UK general election, Adam Tyler-Moore.[10] As a result of the plans, local residents set up protest groups against the plans,[11] such as the Sunbury Opposes London Irish Development (SOLID) and Lower Sunbury Residents Association.[12] Along with the Liberal Democrats' objections, on 15 April 2010, 500 people organised a protest march against the plans, claiming that London Irish just wanted to make money off the land despite the club's claim that it would engage with the community.[13] The plans did however have the support of the Rugby Football Union, Premier Rugby, Sport England and the Rugby Player's Association. As a result of the negative reaction from the local residents, the club downsized their plans from 400 to less than 200 houses,[14] as well as including construction of a health care centre and a residential care home to go in with the developments.[15]
In 2010, London Irish applied for the planning permission to demolish the grandstand and replace it with residential houses, however the plans were rejected by Spelthorne Council.[16] The plans were rejected because in the council's eyes, the development "...would have resulted in an unacceptable lose (sic) of an outdoor sports facility." It was revealed that the council had received 857 letters opposing the plans with only 250 letters in support of them, with 206 of the supporting letters coming from outside the borough.[17] London Irish announced that they would appeal against this decision.[18] This appeal led to the council announcing an inquiry to be held on 7 June 2011 and lasting 12 days to discuss the future of the ground. [19] The London Irish Chief Executive Andy Martin said that the move was needed as the ground lacked sufficient rugby pitches and that they had the senior team sharing facilities with the amateur and junior teams. [20]