NINE has been the magic number for Charlton this season, writes Gary Haines.

It's the number of new faces head coach Iain Dowie has brought to the club during his brief but incredibly hectic spell in SE7.

The tally was reached on transfer deadline day last Thursday as Souleymane Diawara arrived from Sochaux and midfielder Omar Pouso moved on loan from Penarol in the space of 24 hours.

And, while fans were no doubt champing at the bit to see how the latest recruits fit into the new Addicks set-up, there was important club business taking place in Woolwich.

Charlton were given the green light to finally complete their east-stand development after unanimously winning nine votes to build nine new flats.

Woolwich Town Hall has been synonymous in Charlton legend and most famously was the place where the rebirth of the new Valley was announced in the early 1990s.

Since then the stadium, just like the football club, has grown steadily and progressively.

And last week's thumbs-up from councillors gives Charlton the opportunity to increase the capacity to 31,000 and keeps the club on track for their long-term target of a sparkling 40,600 all-seater facility.

With the residential aspect of the rigorous east-stand development process accepted by all the councillors, the flats have been earmarked for erection at the rear of a new south-east corner of The Valley.

And after the 9-0 clean sweep Addicks chief executive Peter Varney was delighted the final piece of the jigsaw is in place.

He said: "The residential part is the final element of our complex east-stand planning application.

"It has been a long process and we are delighted at the successful conclusion of gaining full consent for what will be a spectacular development once it is constructed."

He added: "We have not set a timetable for any work at this stage but this will be debated at board level in the near future.

"I would also like to thank the council for its support by backing this venture."

The agreement offers Charlton closure to an initial proposal which kicked off in November 2004.

It is when the club announced its plans to take the capacity beyond 30,000 thanks to a second tier on the east stand and the plans, which include a new south-east quadrant, were handed to the council the following month.

At the time the club also declared its future intention to expand by a further 10,000 seats by renovating the south, Jimmy Seed, stand.

The authority granted permission for the east-stand plans in June 2005 with the extensive alterations set to benefit not just the club but the area too.

New facilities are set to include a business information centre, creche and college facilities as well as a living wall on the exterior to improve appearance.

The east-stand project continues the construction theme for the Addicks who have already opened a new Centre-4-Skills site at their Sparrows Lane training complex in New Eltham.

A sparkling new floodlit pitch is just part of a multi-layered project at the facility which will be available for the community as well the club to use.