Racecourse changes name and announces £42m deal

The Newbury Weekly News can exclusively reveal the 107-year-old racing venue has been rebranded ahead of its hosting of this weekend’s Lionel Ritchie concert.
The new partnership is a joint venture with David Wilson Homes, which is to pump £42.6million into the racecourse over the next 10 years in order to build up to 1,500 home across three plots.
The Racecourse Newbury’s joint managing director, Sarah Horden, said the venue had laid down a marker that it wanted to compete with some of the biggest and best stadiums and arenas in the country, 365 days a year.
“Completing this deal means that we have the final go ahead to start construction after years of consultation and planning on this project. We are excited about what this means for the future of the racecourse,” she said.
Currently the venue is only operating 30 days a year, but its rebirth as a leisure and housing development will see the site become a mini village with green spaces, a hotel and even a mini amphitheatre for the parade ring, with the intention of seeing it in use every day of the year.
David Wilson Homes spokesman Paul Moran said that 30 per cent of the new homes would be affordable and shared equity housing.
To help mitigate the increase in traffic, investment into the local road network has been promised with bus and rail routes being upgraded, and a revamp of the Newbury Racecourse railway station will also be overhauled with CCTV and extra lighting installed.
As part of the revamp of the racecourse, plans for a new parade ring, stables, car parks, saddling boxes and staff accommodation have also been drawn up, along with landscape works around the grandstands and an increased premier enclosure.
The new bridge is already in construction and is scheduled to be complete in autumn 2015, and includes big alterations to the current racecourse entrance, with hopes of providing enhanced access from Stroud Green.
The first homes are expected to be on the market by next summer, and the second phase of work on the central and eastern residential sites will begin from 2016; as yet no planning application has been designed.
The Rocking Horse Nursery, which caters for 100 toddlers, will move to a new purpose built facility but will not increase in size – the venue is keen to cap the number of children at 100.