Stockport - a town and club on the up with a £50m stadium expansion
Stockport County's stadium expansion has been tipped to bring 'huge' benefits to the borough.
The near £50m project will see the League One club playing in a redevelopment stadium with space for 18,000 fans packed into Edgeley Park once the work is complete.
Planning permission for the scheme was granted last week, to add 7,400 seats in a redevelopment with a new east stand and south stand.
It comes as a £1bn regeneration project is taking place around Stockport, with plans for 1,300 new apartments also approved to the west of the Viaduct last week.
County made it to the League One playoffs last season in a bid to gain promotion to the Championship, but lost out on penalties to Leyton Orient.
The club is currently sitting in fourth place in the league, with two wins and a draw from its opening three games.
Dave Marchbank, chair of Stockport County Supporters' Co-operative, said: "The majority of the fan base wanted County to remain at Edgeley Park, so it [the stadium expansion] was crucial really.
"The reality is the average attendance in the Championship last year was 22,000, so if we get in we're not going to be able to compete with a ground that holds less than 11,000.
"We've played at the Championship level before, but it wasn't that long ago a lot of kids hadn't seen us as a league team.
"If you're in the Championship you're within a sniff of the Premier League, there's other clubs that have done it and done it well."
Stockport's Lib Dem council leader Mark Roberts welcomed the move to expand Stockport County's stadium, and said there's a 'feel-good' factor around the club and borough at the moment.
"It's really promising to see the latest step the club have made to realising the lofty ambitions that the ownership and the town have for Stockport County," he said.
"To see how far both our town and our club has grown over the past few years is both astounding and a source for huge optimism and pride.
"At one point I think if you'd asked most county fans where we might be in ten years' time they'd be reluctant to think about it, so it's fantastic that there is a feel good factor about the place both on and off the pitch.
"From Stockport council's perspective, it's even better that the club can play their part in the ground breaking regeneration of our town centre whilst doing so and we wish them well in the coming season."
Labour councillor David Meller said: "It's been a long time coming. But as a County season ticket holder and a supporter of the expansion, I'm delighted it's finally been approved.
"The benefits going forward for Edgeley and Stockport as a whole will, in my view, be huge.
"The expansion will create more jobs, generate economic growth and help the club develop its outstanding community offer even further.
"From meeting with Mark Stott [Stockport County's owner] and VITA several years ago and hearing their vision for the club to seeing where we are now, the proof of their delivery is there to see.
"It's really pleasing and long may it continue as the club, I hope, progresses to be Championship and develops further as an asset benefitting the borough in so many ways."
The plans faced opposition from the Edgeley Wildlife Reserve group, who wanted to save an area of natural green land behind the south stand that has been earmarked for a car park.
Rob Eyre from the group said that the land is home to wildlife who could face dire consequences as a result of losing the space.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service in July: "As it stands today, EWR [Edgeley Wildlife Reserve] comprises 40 per cent of Edgeley's meaningful, secure and safe space in terms of wildlife habitat.
"A car park could decimate the animal populations in this area."
Despite the concerns, councillors voted to approve County's plans on August 14.
Edgeley councillor Asa Caton was one of those in support of the plans.
He said at the planning meeting: "As a councillor I have to strike a balance between environmental protection and development that brings clear socio-economic benefits."
"I have listened to the objections from the Edgeley Wildlife Reserve group but to me the balance is in favour of development because of the benefits it's going to bring to Edgeley and across Stockport."
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