Birmingham City Football Club will be allowed to keep the £1.25 million upgrades at its Warwickshire training ground, despite installing them without permission.

The football club had completed a series of works at its Henley-in-Arden base which included replacing a 3G pitch with a 'stitched hybrid grass pitch', undersoil heating, a media pod, ball-stop netting and a 'performance camera tower'.

Work began in 2023 when the Blues moved to Stratford Road following a fire at their Wast Hills training ground.

And now Stratford-on-Avon District Council has granted a retrospective planning application to keep the upgrades.

"The new hybrid grass pitch for which the undersoil heating serves, replaced a previous 3G surface at a cost of £1.25million," the application said. 

"A further £750,000 has been invested to bring the adjacent gymnasium up to standard for an elite football team. 

"The media pod, performance camera tower and ball stop netting also form part of the Birmingham City Football Club's significant investment in the EPIC training facility."

Blues moved to Henley-in-Arden in 2023 (image via planning application)

The works to the gym were not included in the planning application.

The application said the underground heating is needed to ensure the outdoor pitch can be used throughout the winter and will reduce long-term maintenance.

"The retention of the existing improvement works to the Site will directly support the ambitious aspirations of Birmingham City Football Club," the application added.

It continued: "The proposal is regarded as a sustainable development located in an appropriate location and considered to be in accordance with the relevant policies of the statutory development plan and national planning policy. 

"As such, planning permission should be granted without delay."

Signing off on the plans, a council report said: "Overall, I consider the developments to be of an acceptable visual appearance and would not be harmful within the context and nature of the application site and its existing development.

"When considered cumulatively I consider the sites character is maintained and when viewed in context of the whole site, the additions are relatively minor and their visual impact is proportional to this."

See the full application here.