Town FC has said there are no delays to an urgent £10m programme of works to its stadium,e postponing its first home match of the 2023/24 season.
The club’s Kenilworth Road stadium is “undergoing a programme of extensive ground improvements” this summer in order to be ready to host Premier League games, after winning promotion last season.
This includes constructing a new stand for the 10,000-capacity venue “to meet broadcast and media requirements”.
The club said that the work was “progressing extremely well and currently ahead of schedule”. Despite this, it has asked to postpone its match against Burnley FC, which was scheduled for 19 August.
Luton said that “due to the extent of the project”, the club “cannot absolutely guarantee supporters that any future unforeseen issues would not cause any delay” that would affect the schedule.
Given this, the club agreed with the Premier League and Burnley FC that the postponement “was a sensible outcome which gives supporters of both teams sufficient time to plan for what will now be a free weekend”.
The main contractor for the programme of works is Hertfordshire-based Capital Sky, its director Martin Maloney confirmed to Construction News. Maloney said that the programme of works was “on track”.
A new date for the match will be announced as soon as possible, Luton said.
Luton chief executive Gary Sweet said: “The joint decision to delay this fixture is regrettable, especially given the amazing progress that continues to be made on our construction works; our current programme is indeed on time, but there is no additional contingency and therefore we can’t give a cast-iron guarantee at this stage that a problem outside of our control, however minor, wouldn’t force a postponement further down the line and inconvenience supporters of both clubs.”
In May, Sweet stated that the improvements needed to meet Premier League criteria would cost about £10m, saying “we have no complaints as it’s part of the inclusion of the [Premier League] membership, it’s a deal to be done and we’re happy”.
In the long term, Luton plans to move to a new town centre stadium at Power Court as part of a wider 20-acre regeneration scheme next to Luton railway station.
Outline planning permission has been received, with preparatory works already beginning. The target date for completing construction 
The Power Court stadium is expected to have a capacity of 19,500 in its first phase of development, with a further 4,000 seats added in the second phase.
