Championship club Bristol City has revealed that they have halted plans to build houses in the shadow of the new potential 2018 World Cup stadium at Ashton Vale.

The Bristol City Council has given the overall project the go ahead but have rejected the planning application to build 116 homes in the Southlands area.

As a result, the club has got to reapply for permission in a bid to get the revised plans accepted. With Bristol recently being chosen as a provisional city for the 2018 World Cup bid, they will be keen to get the go ahead as early as possible.

The football club’s chief executive Colin Sexstone said the club had been in talks with councillors and planning officials from both local authorities to try to resolve all the issues.

He stated: “We have put forward our revised plans to Bristol City Council. We think we have met all the requirements that have been requested so we hope this will be approved on February 10.”

Sexstone also added that the club had decided not to press ahead with the Southlands scheme, which it had originally said could contribute £10 million towards the cost, because of the risk of delay to the main stadium project.