Cardiff Council, Cardiff City Football Club and Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club are on Thursday delighted to announce that an agreement has been reached regarding the future of the athletics stadium in Leckwith.

It had been widely reported in the media that Cardiff Athletic Stadium would have to be out of action for up to 11 months in order that the development of Cardiff City Football Club's new stadium could go ahead.

But Cardiff City Stadium Ltd, the developers of the new football stadium, have informed all parties that this is now not the case and it is still working towards the original plan of having new athletics facilities in place before demolition starts, so the transition is as seamless as possible.

There had been legitimate concerns about how viable it was to carry out remediation in one phase at Leckwith as the athletics stadium is currently in the middle of the proposed Cardiff City FC stadium site.

However the first tenders have come back for the main infrastructure work, such as highway improvements, drainage, gas supply, electricity cables etc, and the developer is encouraged by the responses to the extent that it can confirm the existing athletics stadium will remain where it is until July 2007.

Work is scheduled to begin on the new athletics stadium in January and Cardiff City Stadium Ltd is confident that the new track and throwing areas will be completed by the end of July 2007 with the stadium completed by October.

While the new stadium won't be fully completed when the existing one is demolished the plan is that there will be continuity of provision of the track and field areas.

There are some matters of agreement to be finalised, such as the installation of a temporary office and other facilities for the athletic club, but the news will ensure that existing users of the stadium won't need to travel elsewhere to train.

Cardiff City Stadium Ltd director Paul Guy said: "This is another very important aspect of this complex development resolved. The next big issue for us are the tenders for the football and athletics stadium due in on September 1^st."

The plans will now go before Cardiff Council's scrutiny committee and are due to be considered by the Executive and full council by October.

Cardiff Council leader Rodney Berman said: "This is great news. There was a lot of speculation in the media that athletes and users of Cardiff Athletic Stadium would be left without a home for up to 11 months in order for the development of Cardiff City Football Club's new stadium to go ahead.

"Clearly this would have been far from satisfactory and I am delighted that the original plan is firmly back on track. It is very important there is now a close working relationship between all parties to ensure that there is as seamless a transfer as possible.

"I am also very encouraged by the progress that is being made on the city stadium development and remain confident that Cardiff will benefit enormously from this project."

Peter Ridsdale of Cardiff City Football Club said: "We are delighted to have found a solution which works for all parties and hopefully we can get all outstanding matters resolved in the next month or so to get the green light for the stadium development to start."

Jeff Kirby, Chairman of Cardiff AAC said: "We are very pleased that a solution has been found that will ensure the least possible disruption for Cardiff's athletes. There are still some details to be settled but we appreciate the cooperative approach and support we have received from Cardiff Council, the football club and the developers and wish them every success with their exciting project. We shall be looking forward to moving to our new home which will give a big boost to all our athletes, both up and coming and established internationals."