Northampton Saints Rugby Football Club (NSRFC) has announced plans for the construction of a new North Stand at its Franklin's Gardens stadium in a bid to increase the venue's capacity to 17,000.

A planning application is expected to be submitted to Northampton Borough Council for the new stand, which will replace the existing Sturtridge Pavilion after the club admitted that the 13,500-capacity stadium has operated at 98 per cent for the last few seasons. However, the multi-million pound development will depend on a concurrent planning application by ASDA to build a new supermarket on land currently occupied by the club's Car Park D, with the grocery retailer set to fund the North Stand project.

NRSFC chair Keith Barwell said: "It is a win-win story for all. The town gets a more prestigious stadium. The public gets a new food store and more choice and competition about where they can shop. We need all of our supporters and a good majority of the good folk of the town to buy into this. "I must stress that these two planning applications are dependent on each other. Bluntly, the club cannot afford to build the new stand without ASDA's help."