Owls Training Ground Blow

Wednesday have been dealt a financial blow today after they withdrew their planning application to build on the current Middlewood Road training ground.

The club have hoped to sell the training ground in a bid to re-coup around £10 million of debts, and move the facilities to a site in the South of Sheffield.

Council officers had said that the application had broke planning guidelines as it wanted to build 250 new homes on a protected green site.

Had the application been approved, councillors would then need to get the approval from the Secretary of State.

Now Wednesday chiefs have withdrawn their application just a day before it was to be considered by the West and North Planning and Highways Area Board.

They will look at the plans with a view to amending them and submitting them once again.

The training ground sale was a key part of reducing the club's debt, and the set-back could prove costly to the Owls.

Local residents have already campaigned against the scheme, which would see new houses and apartments of up to four stories high be built on the land.