The site for the new football stadium at Tindale Crescent was first identified during discussions with Durham County Council over 10 years before the Club finally moved into the completed stadium. Many adults who were born and bred in the area fondly remember playing of ‘the pit heaps’, the land the new stadium is built on. During the many years of negotiations both to sell part of the Kingsway Ground which the football club shared with the town’s Cricket Club and to buy the land at Tindale Crescent the Football Club were delighted to receive support from the Football Stadia Improvement Scheme (FSIF) in the form of a £250,000 grant. In November 2008 planning permission was granted for the development but as there were some objections it looked like the next move would be for the Government to hold a public enquiry into the planning decision. However, in March 2009 as those objections were withdrawn the Government confirmed not to ‘call-in’ the decision so there was no longer a need for a public enquiry. Work on the new stadium finally commenced in November 2009 and Heritage Park was officially opened by Sir John Hall in October 2010.