The Wildcats and Thornes Park - In November 2006 the Wakefield City Council set out plans for a new sporting village to be built at Thornes Park which would incorporate a new stadium to be used by the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (currently housed at Belle Vue Stadium, Doncaster Road, slap bang amidst a dense residential district), along with gymnastics and boxing facilities and swimming pools. The council are now awaiting results of a feasibility study into the project which could cost as much as £25,000,000,  and would potentially see residents of Wakefield lose a HUGE chunk of public parkland that was originally provided "for the workers of Wakefield".

“It will be a stadium for the people and it is hoped that this new development will be a centre of excellence for the whole of Wakefield and will be sustainable for many years. The council wants to justify its involvement in the project, so wants it to be a community stadium for the whole city and this will open the project up to a lot more funding.”

Apparently, the majority of both Clarence Park and Thornes Park would be retained and regenerated as part of the project which will largely take place on council-owned, brownfield land, with the college moving its campus to the town centre, although some facilities may be retained.

Ms Lisa Dodd, the council's service director for Sport says...

"We want to keep Thornes Park a park and not take it over. We are also looking at residents-only parking permits. Regenerating the park will go hand-in-hand with building a stadium and we can look at a range of grants to do this. The brief will ask how large we want the stadium to be. It’s important it’s not too big because we don’t want people playing in front of a half-empty stadium. We are looking at a capacity of 10,000 to 12,000. And we don’t want it to be a concert venue because of the location. Swimming, health and fitness facilities are the key parts.”