Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney could be forgiven for being surprised at just how smoothly their time as owners of Welsh soccer club Wrexham has gone since taking control in 2021.
The pair have overseen back-to-back promotions for their once-languishing side and won multiple Emmys for their accompanying documentary series, Welcome to Wrexham, in the process.
But there’s one obstacle the duo is struggling to overcome: tedious U.K. planning regulations.
Speaking to Collider, the Wrexham co-owners said they were keen to expand their Racecourse stadium, which currently has a capacity of 12,600. McElhenney says he hopes Wrexham’s stadium may one day hold between 45,000 and 55,000 people through gradual rebuilding.
However, an obstacle that is the bane of freedom-loving Americans is standing in McElhenney’s and Reynolds’s way.
‘Thick buttress of bureaucracy’
“It is definitely a comedic point of consternation in the show, how often we’re running up against bureaucracy,” McElhenney told Collider.
In the first season of Welcome to Wrexham, a lengthy subplot involves McElhenney and Reynolds trying to win permission to rebuild Wrexham’s Kop stand, while repeatedly running into problems.
“And of course, safety concerns, and things like that, and all those regulations are there in place for a reason, but then there are some things that just seem like hurdles for hurdles’ sake,” McElhenney noted. “It’s a lot harder to build in the U.K. than, I found, almost anywhere else in the world.”
Reynolds agreed with McElhenney, though was less diplomatic in his observations.
“I think the thick buttress of bureaucracy is the biggest f***ing problem,” Reynolds said.
“I live in New York, Rob lives in L.A., where construction is very different, in as much as they will charge you $10 for every $1 you spend.
“But in Wales, it really is a lot of red tape, and it’s just sort of figuring out ways to tick all those boxes and make sure that every single bureaucrat is happy.”
NIMBYism
As Reynolds points out, there is a big difference between planning laws in the fairly libertarian U.S. and the more restrictive practices in the U.K.
There is far more protected land in the U.K., which can condense building into a smaller area, increasing the tradeoff between various proposals. The need for local buy-in also increases the potential for NIMBYism, as residents block projects that might have an impact on their property values or way of life.
Planning in the U.K. is accordingly required to go through consultation with a number of national and local stakeholders.
But even after that lengthy process is satisfied, success is not guaranteed, as Reynolds and McElhenney are learning.
When trying to expand Wrexham’s Kop stand, Reynolds and McElhenney ran into opposition last November from local councilors who objected to the stand on environmental grounds.
Whatever their issues with local planning restrictions, the pair hope they can find their way around them to accommodate a growing global fan base, particularly if they can achieve their ultimate goal of reaching the Premier League.
