NEWCASTLE RACECOURSE will be transformed into an all-weather venue for the 2016 Flat season after the British Horseracing Authority approved the venue’s latest application this morning.

Arena Racing Company (ARC), who own the Gosforth Park venue, have pledged to spend £11m renovating the racecourse, with work due to begin in September.

The first all-weather meeting is due to take place next spring, with a minimum of 17 all-weather Flat fixtures already guaranteed for next season.

The Northumberland Plate, which is Newcastle’s flagship Flat event, will be run on the new Tapeta surface, with ARC raising the value of the race to £150,000 and announcing plans to run a £75,000 consolation race on the same card.

Jumps racing will continue on a turf course alongside the all-weather circuit, but this winter’s National Hunt meetings will have to be restaged, with the Fighting Fifth Hurdle initially scheduled to take place at Doncaster on November 28.

“This is a very exciting time for Newcastle Racecourse,” said ARC managing director Tony Kelly. “We embarked on this investment plan three years ago and are pleased we now have everything in place to start the work in the autumn.

“I understand and sympathise that there are some in the sport who will be sad to see a turf track converted to all-weather, but the many benefits of ARC’s £11m investment will ensure Newcastle Racecourse can make an even more valuable contribution to British Racing in the years to come.”

ARC’s redevelopment proposals were approved by Newcastle City Council in April 2014, but the plans ran into difficulties when floodlighting could only be guaranteed for the straight mile course.

That meant Newcastle could no longer meet the BHA regulations setting out the required distances for a race programme, but it has subsequently been agreed that, where necessary, twilight or floodlit fixtures at Gosforth Park can start up to 35 minutes earlier than standard to enable them to be run in daylight.

“This was not a straight-forward decision for the BHA board, with a number of factors taken into account and the matter discussed at some length,” said BHA chief executive Nick Rust. “We are conscious that a broad range of views exist within the sport as to the proposals at Newcastle, but were mindful in particular of the demand that exists for an all-weather track in the North.”

Most Northern trainers had supported an alternative proposal for an all-weather course at Catterick, which boasts a more central location than Newcastle and was viewed as less of a loss to the turf programme.

Catterick’s proposals received planning permission from Richmondshire District Council last Tuesday, although the North Yorkshire course’s managing director, John Sanderson, admitted the project would be dependent on receiving the necessary amount of fixtures.

That now looks to be dead in the water, with the BHA extremely unlikely to support two sets of all-weather fixtures in the North.