Yorkshire County Cricket Club are planning a series of major music concerts at their Headingley Carnegie Stadium home in Leeds.
The club has applied for permission from Leeds City Council to hold up to three concerts during each of the next two years.
They would take place on Headingley’s cricket pitch, with crowd capacity set at just under 15,000.
A council report on the plan says Yorkshire want to attract “Radio 2 type acts” – indicating that the performers would be drawn from the world of pop rather than rock.
The report also says the club has a “major international artist” lined up to appear this June, should permission be granted by the council.
Yorkshire commercial director Andy Dawson said today that the club was in “advanced discussions” with a number of promoters.
He went on: “We want to provide a multi-entertainment venue for the community.
“We also need to find new and stable income streams to support the business of playing cricket.”
Councillors will discuss the club’s proposal at a meeting next Wednesday (January 10).
Planning technicalities mean permission from the authority is required for non-cricketing events with capacities of more than 2,000 people.
The council’s report on the proposal notes that objections have been received from residents and two Weetwood ward councillors.
Concerns raised, says the report, relate to noise nuisance and traffic congestion.
However, the report also recommends that councillors support the plan.
It says: “The use of the stadium for the staging of concerts will provide a leisure and amenity benefit to the [city] and the local area.”
If councillors give the proposal the green light next Wednesday, then Yorkshire are aiming to hold concerts on consecutive days so the disruption caused by putting up and dismantling stage sets can be reduced.
Shows are likely to take place over summer weekends, starting about 7pm and finishing no later than 10pm.
Comments