Barnet FC have submitted their proposals to Barnet Council for their planned move back to their home borough.
A press conference held on 20 December saw chairman Tony Kleanthous confirm that the club were in the process of sending the council their plans.
The Bees have been aiming to return to the Borough of Barnet since leaving their Underhill ground for The Hive, in Harrow, in 2013.
Kleanthous said: “Our agenda is very straightforward, we want to try and bring Barnet Football Club back to Barnet.
“We’ve been unsuccessful in finding anywhere other than where we always were, our original home, and this is all about going back to our original home.”
The club are aiming to build a 7,000-seater stadium close to the site of their old ground Underhill which will feature a medical scanning centre and community facilities.
Also present were AndArchitects, the firm in charge of the build.
Founding director Manuel Nogueira said: “We’ve looked at various sites, the key thing is bringing it back to its home which is very close to the original site at Underhill, that’s a key ambition.”
The final party at the conference was director of site planners WSP Sean McGrath, who noted there are still issues to overcome before Barnet’s ambition can become a reality.
McGrath said: “In the green belt, we know we’ve got a high hurdle to get over, we have to show very special circumstances.
“We know there’s still a lot of work to do. Getting the application in, that is the first step on the road.
“We’ve gone through, we’ve looked at every site we can find, we’re convinced this is the best site.”
Public consultations held in Barnet in November saw a high attendance from local residents and Barnet fans, and these talks led to the proposed stadium changing location.
The original plan had been to build on the site of Ark Pioneer Academy’s playing fields.
However, after talking with parents, pupils and the school, the club deemed that a new site on Barnet Playing Fields was more appropriate.
Barnet FC commercial manager Dan Martin was keen to stress the significance of the public consultations.
He said: “What we actually got out of it [the consultations] was some very important pieces of the puzzle.
“It gave us a different viewpoint on it, a different dimension to it and it has 100% reshaped the entire application.”
Kleanthous has set a target of Barnet starting the 2026/27 season inside their new home, assuming everything goes to plan.
The club previously played at Underhill from 1907 until 2013, but were forced to leave when redevelopment plans were thwarted by the council.
Featured image credit: Stephen Kountourou
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