COUNCIL chiefs are set to debate proposals which could finally secure Worcester City’s return to the Faithful City in a stadium on land off Parsonage Way.
Members of Worcester City Council’s Policy and Development Committee will discuss the proposals for a community stadium on land owned by the authority and rented to the club at a meeting next Tuesday, September 19.
Any new stadium would comprise a new pitch, a small stand, a changing block, floodlights and the supply of utilities to a new site.
A cash injection of £100,000 will also be made by Worcester City Council should the plans be approved and a report to councillors reveal the club could be back in the city in time for the 2019/20 season.
Under the proposals the council will grant a long lease of around 50 years to to the Worcestershire Football Association, who in turn will then rent the ground to Worcester City.
City will pay a ‘peppercorn’ rent of £1 per year, although tha agreement will be reviewed after the first five years and then yearly for the following five years.
The news marks a major development in the club’s bid to return to Worcester after being in exile in Kidderminster and now Bromsgrove since the sale of St George’s Lane.
An application by the Supporters Trust to develop a stadium at Perdiswell was rejected in July by Conservative councillors on the authority’s planning committee.
A major change from the failed Perdiswell stadium bid is the insistence the site can be used by the community with a smaller training pitch alongside the main pitch. The change is likely to have been sparked after the application for Perdiswell was criticised for it’s lack of community involvement.
Council bosses have also insisted as part of the proposals that the ailing Midlands Football League Premier Division side explore other funding opportunities such as commercial sponsorship.
Club officials will also be expected to look into applying for grants to develop the changing rooms and club house.
A statement from the club said: “Directors believe that this is the best opportunity to bring City home in a realistic time frame. This is a chance to build an exciting new future for the football club.”
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