"A huge disappointment" – Leverkusen's youth campus plans rejected by city council | OneFootball

Bayer Leverkusen's hopes for the construction of its planned youth academy in Monheim remain uncertain, multiple sources can confirm.

In a secret ballot, the majority of Monheim's city council voted against initiating a zoning plan procedure for the "Bayer 04 Campus".  

Of the 45 council members present, a small majority of 25 voted against the project, while 19 voted in favor and one abstained.

"This vote is a huge disappointment for us," said Fernando Carro, Chairman of the Board of Bayer 04, in a subsequent club statement. 

"After ten years of planning, assessments and adjustments to our concept, we would have liked to have our project professionally evaluated in a structured process.

“We will carefully analyze the decision of the Monheim politicians, and we will remain persistent, I promise. Our goal has not changed.

"We want and need to create the conditions for Bayer 04 Leverkusen to remain competitive nationally and internationally in the long term.”

Parties such as the SPD, CDU and Greens justified their rejection in the previous debate with ecological disadvantages linked to the loss of the regional greenbelt and sealing off land. 

The Left Party, AfD, FDP, and the Peto party advocated for the zoning process in order to proceed with further discussions with experts and affected residents.