CHARLTON Athletic bosses are submitting plans to expand The Valley stadium and increase its capacity by 15,000.

The proposals have now been endorsed by the club's board of directors and will be forwarded to Greenwich Council on December 13.

The application involves redeveloping the east stand and south-east corner of the ground to increase its capacity from 26,800 to 30,900.

And a further outline application for the south stand will be submitted at the same time with the intention of ultimately raising the stadium's capacity to 40,600.

Peter Varney, chief executive of the club, said: "At the same time as we lodge the application, there will be an exhibition at The Valley of our proposals in order that residents are afforded the opportunity to understand and comment upon our proposals."

Supporters of the club have welcomed the proposals. But residents living in the shadow of The Valley fear the plans will cause chaos.

Mike Donovan, 53, secretary of the Charlton Athletic Residents' Liaison Committee, said: "Anyone in their right minds would not choose to site a club right in the middle of two single-file roads. The roads are already jammed on match days.

"Adding another 15,000 fans is ludicrous. If there was a fire, the emergency services would have real difficulties entering the ground with the extra traffic on the roads.

"Also, the burden on Greenwich's cleansing services to clear up litter after matches is already quite substantial. More fans will just add to the burden."

As well as planning applications for The Valley, Charlton Athletic will also be lodging an application for plans to upgrade the club's training complex in Sparrows Lane, New Eltham.

Proposals include an extension to the main clubhouse for new press facilities and new kit storage areas. There would also be construction of a shooting tunnel and a volleyball court, installation of two new entrances and creation of a new Supaskills area.

The plans for the training complex also involve upgrades on the former Charlton Park Rugby Ground and Pippenhall Sports Ground.

A new roadway linking Sparrows Lane to Footscray Road would also be built to allow traffic from the complex to disperse.

And a memorial garden commemorating 17-year-old youth team defender Pierre Bolangi, who drowned during pre-season training at an army base in Aldershot in August 2000, would be created.