Kent County Cricket Club has received the green light from planners for a multi-million pound redevelopment of its Worsley Bridge Road ground at Beckenham, enhancing the facilities for cricket and providing hospitality.

Among the additions planned are an indoor cricket school, built to ECB Academy standards and a new 2,000-seat stand to boost capacity.

There will also be physiotherapy treatment rooms, a gym, pilates studio, a bar and conference and banqueting area, offices, floodlit football pitch, tennis courts and parking.

Kent Cricket chief executive, Jamie Clifford, said: “In addition to the potential it presents for hosting matches, it will also become a centre of excellence in a key part of the county. Our new indoor centre will provide us with a wonderful base from which to identify and develop young players.”

Negotiations are now ongoing with a view to developing a health and leisure facility and a conference centre at the site.