BATH Rugby's plans to temporarily increase the capacity of the Recreation Ground have been deferred by the local council.

Bath & North East Somerset Council was unable to decide whether or not to grant the Aviva Premiership side permission to increase their stadium's capacity from 12,000 to close to 14,000 for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons and upgrade facilities ahead of their 150th anniversary next year.

In a statement on Bath's website, chief executive Nick Blofeld said: "We are clearly very disappointed that B&NES Development Control Committee has chosen to delay the decision for our temporary application proposal.

"This presents us with significant operational challenges to be ready for the start of the season, however, we will of course work hard with B&NES to assist them in coming to a positive decision, and still hope to increase our capacity during the period of our 150th anniversary."

The matter has been deferred until the council's next planning meeting at the end of July.

In March, a tribunal ruled that Bath could not have extra land around the Recreation Ground site to build a new stadium, meaning any new development would have to be built where the current stadium lies.

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