Castleford Tigers Rugby Football Club’s plans to build a new stadium has taken a major step forward after the government decided not to call in the planning application.

The proposed 10,000-capacity stadium is part of a £135m mixed-use Five Towns Park development in Glasshoughton, consisting of a 50-acre country park and a 53,000sq m retail and entertainment complex.

Developed by Lateral Property Group, the sheer size of the project meant the plans had to be considered by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Wakefield Council had approved the original planning application back in February.

DCLG decided, however, not to call the proposals in for further scrutiny, which could have delayed the opening date of the stadium.

Tigers CEO Steve Gill said he was “thrilled” that the project has now cleared its last planning hurdle.

"It's a huge relief to hear the application is not being called in,” Gill said.

“We’re now in a great position to deliver the Five Towns Park project to our local community. There are a lot of excited people in Cas at the moment, but we still have a lot of work to do before we start the groundwork.”

It is now expected that construction work will begin later this year and the new stadium will be ready for the 2017 rugby season – with the retail opening later that year.

Philip Lunn, managing director of Lateral Property Group, added: “This is a significant step towards the delivery of this development and we expect to make further announcements soon.”

Lateral is working with Leeds-based construction company GMI on the project.

Other partners in the development include architects DLA Design, HOW Planning and landscape architects Tyler Grange.