Aston Villa Football Club has launched a planning consultation for the first phase of improvement plans for their stadium Villa Park in Birmingham.

The upgrades are expected to exceed a cost of £100 million. The first phase will include a new North Stand as well as including a new commercial and community space called Villa Live.

Construction of the first phase of development will begin in 2023 and last until 2025. The stadium expansion is expected to increase Villa Park’s capacity by 50,000 seats.

Christian Purslow, CEO of Aston Villa, said: “We are excited to share our vision for Villa Park to become a world-class sporting venue and thriving community destination.  It is important that we gain the feedback of our local community, fans, and organisations, as we want them to play a key role in shaping the next chapter in Villa Park’s illustrious history.”

The pre planning consultation will include a survey and community drop-in sessions for fans, local residents and businesses to give their feedback. The results of the consultation will be use to inform design and be incorporated into the planning application Aston Villa will submit in late summer 2022.

The club is also engaging with local authorities to improve transport infrastructure to the stadium which they believe is necessary to allow for any redevelopment to take place.

Aston Villa hope this redevelopment will further push the club and city onto the world stage and they hope a redeveloped Villa Park would be included as one of stadiums used as part of a UK bid to host the 2028 European Championships.