Safe standing area could be tested at League One club Shrewsbury Town

Shrewsbury Town are aiming to become the first English football club with an all-seater stadium to bring in safe standing.

Plans have been made to install rail seats, which allow the seat to be locked into an upright position, and to have a safety barrier on every row.

This would allow fans of the League One club to stand between rows.

Standing was banned in England’s top two divisions – the Premier League and Championship – following the Taylor Inquiry into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

All-seater stadiums legislation permits clubs in Leagues One and Two to keep terraces that existed before 1994.

If approved by the Sports Ground Safety Authority, Shrewsbury’s Greenhous Meadow, which is just 10 years old, will be the first modern football stadium in England to have standing.

The English Football League has welcomed Shrewsbury’s application, which the club is seeking to finance via crowdfunding.

If successful, the new seats will be installed in the Salop Leisure Stand in their 10,000-capacity ground.

The League One club are hoping to have 500 such seats fitted and in use before the end of the 2017/18 season.

EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said: "This is an important step on the journey towards our stated aim of seeing standing in stadiums across the EFL and I wish Shrewsbury Town every success in reaching their crowdfunding target to support their application.

"The installation of standing accommodation will be popular with the club’s fans and, more widely, will prove a valuable opportunity to assess the use of this form of accommodation at an English football ground."

Shrewsbury’s supporters’ parliament joint-chair Roger Groves said: "There’s a clear demand from our fans for an area where they can stand safely.

"We see that at every game with several hundred choosing to stand at their seats, which is not altogether safe. Rail seats will ensure that nobody falls over no matter how wildly they celebrate a goal and, by having a dedicated standing area, we believe that the overall atmosphere in the stadium will also be enhanced."

Scottish champions Celtic have already implemented a 2,900-capacity safe standing section at their Celtic Park stadium.

The Premier League has written to all 20 clubs asking if they would be interested in taking part in a trial to test safe-standing, with West Brom having already volunteered to sign up.

(c) Sky News 2017: Safe standing area could be tested at League One club Shrewsbury Town