MP backs safe standing
Shrewsbury's MP has backed safe standing at the town's football club.
Shrewsbury Town Football Club, in Oteley Road, will be the first club in England and Wales to install safe standing when work has been completed next month.
In 2017, £65,000 was raised for the Supporters’ Parliament-led initiative which will see 555 rail seats placed into the Salop Leisure South Stand.
The rail seats have been made by local company Ferco Seating and the fitters were at the stadium this week to start the work, which is scheduled to take two weeks.
Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski said he is very supportive of safe standing and would prefer to stand himself.
He said: "The Government seems to be not universally supportive over an expansion of this, I think that is a mistake.
"I think they have to watch very carefully and clearly how this works in Shrewsbury, as Shrewsbury is pioneering this.
"I'm very supportive of the idea of looking at the way we can make the experience of watching football safer and more pleasurable for all people concerned.
"I'm very much in favour of giving people the option.
"I would much prefer to stand because I simply can't get between the seats being six foot nine. My knees are in the other person's back.
"For people who wish to stand, who prefer to stand, I think that there should be an option.
"I'm looking forward to presenting to the Government the success of this pilot."
The work is due to be completed by next month, in time for the Lionel Richie concert on June 13.
The pilot scheme has been supported by the English Football League and was given the go-ahead by the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA), the government agency set up to regulate sports stadia after the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
