Plans to spend £20m on developing stadiummk into a world-class football venue were unveiled to the England 2018 inspection team when they made a return visit to Milton Keynes on Thursday September 3.

The inspectors first visited the city in July to see if Milton Keynes could be a host city for the 2018 World Cup.

The MK bid consortium team with a giant shirt signed by more than 6,000 local people

They returned for a more detailed look at some aspects of the bid, and the day-long visit started with presentations about items such as transport, accommodation, leisure facilities and sites for fan fest sites. Venues around the city and the wider region were visited.

The inspectors gave useful feedback to the Milton Keynes 2018 bid consortium team, who are hopeful that Milton Keynes is in with a chance of becoming a host city.

MK Dons Manager Paul Ince made a surprise appearance at the presentation, and gave his full backing to the bid.

Inspectors heard details of the proposal to expand stadiummk from its existing capacity of 22,233 seats to 43,044 seats to meet FIFA requirements.

MK Dons Chairman Pete Winkelman said: “stadiummk is already a venue Milton Keynes can be immensely proud of and, with our architects now preparing it to meet World Cup standards, we will be underlining its status as one of the UK’s premier sporting arenas.”

The plans include adding another two tiers of seating and providing lots more facilities on site such as a sports store, health club and new restaurants.

For the World Cup, the stadium will have a massive media centre for journalists from around the world; an outside broadcast arena, a centre for volunteers, new ticketing areas and a medical centre.

Mr Winkelman added: “We are really fortunate in that we have the space on the stadium site to create all the additional structures and facilities needed to host matches of global magnitude.”

John Lewis of Milton Keynes Partnership confirmed there is wide support for the stadium expansion plans from different agencies in the city.

He added: “We’ve already seen how the stadium grew from nothing in such a short space of time, and it proves how much can be achieved if everyone pulls together. We’re fully behind the development of the stadium and believe it will be a magnificent long-lasting asset for the people of the city.”

The inspectors also visited three football clubs in the city’s older town areas – Newport Pagnell, Stony Stratford and Manor Fields in Bletchley. There is a possibility that they could be used as training grounds for national teams.

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