Bristol Rovers and Bristol City Council have today signed the Section 106 legal agreement that gives the final green light for the club's new state-of-the-art stadium to go ahead.

The proposed all-seated arena, that will replace the existing Memorial Stadium, will deliver unprecedented modern facilities for football and rugby supporters across the city, as well as offering a range of local benefits to the surrounding community.

The Section 106 agreement completed today includes binding commitments to creating a residents' parking scheme to operate on matchdays, and a stadium monitoring group to bring together the club, the surrounding community and others, to work together on issues such as transport, parking and anti-social behaviour.

With the agreement now signed, work on the new stadium can begin as scheduled at the end of the current season.

The Bristol Rovers board of directors have released the following statement:

"These legal issues are often complex and require careful consideration, but work has continued behind the scenes to develop the design and to ensure we produce the best stadium possible for all fans and for the local community.

"Changes to the design, which are largely finessing, are being discussed with the city planners and will be formally submitted to the council shortly.

"We will be holding an exhibition of the updated plans in the New Year to explain these changes to local residents and supporters, and a newsletter will be issued shortly about this to our local neighbours."

Councillor Helen Holland, leader of Bristol City Council added: "I'm delighted that the Section 106 agreement for the new Memorial Stadium has now been signed off.

"The city council welcomes the development of this new stadium. It will provide the kind of quality, modern facilities that an ambitious club and an ambitious city needs to develop if we are to compete with other parts of the country.

"The council has demonstrated its commitment to the club by giving permission for this scheme - and its commitment to local residents by ensuring that the final Section 106 agreement works in everyone's interests.

"In particular, I welcome the club's commitment to work closely with local residents through a new monitoring group to be set up as part of the Section 106 agreement.

"I hope that, through this new arrangement, a strong and constructive partnership can be developed between club and community that will be good for Horfield, good for the surrounding areas, and good for the whole of our city."