By Lauren Monaghan, Junior Local Democracy Reporter
Two sports clubs should get to keep their home after Nottinghamshire County Council agreed to progress a new land deal with them.
West Bridgford Colts FC and Gedling and Sherwood Cricket Club share a joint home ground at the Regatta Way Sports Club on Regatta Way in West Bridgford.
The land is owned by Nottinghamshire County Council, and the club only has eight years left on the existing lease, meaning both teams had hoped for a new deal.
The authority has now signed off progress to a new agreement, meaning the official signing of a longer lease is imminent.
West Bridgford Colts FC is one of the UK’s largest grassroots football clubs with more than 2,000 players and 156 teams, including 26 girls’ teams, four men’s teams, two women’s teams and three pan-disability teams.
Tim Robinson, trustee of West Bridgford Colts FC, said: “We have a crazy number of teams and players, way more than anyone else.
“Our home is secured for generations to come. Signing this lease gives us security, our home ground, it was hanging over our heads.”
The new lease now gives the club more freedom to improve their space, he added.
“It facilitates football for so many and it will for a long time now and allows us to invest in pitches and the facilities. We couldn’t before, now we can do that.”
The new lease enables the football club to access up to £18,000 funding for floodlight replacement and £42,000 for pitch maintenance over five years.
Gedling and Sherwood Cricket Club has 60 senior members across seven teams and around 65 under-16 members across six teams.
A council report published on Thursday (August 1) says a £6,000-a-year lease for 30 years has been approved and can move forward so teams can plan for the future and develop new facilities.
Steve Carmody, academy director at the club, said: “With sharing with the football club you’ve got the sharing of the costs- it would have been a concern financially.
“When nothing seemed to progress with it, we started to feel more and more uncomfortable, it would have been a big upheaval- our focus was keeping that facility where it is.”
He added: “We’ve got 200 members, so you’re taking away that facility from them [if a new deal was not agreed].
“[The new deal] takes that element of doubt away, it allows us as a joint club to forward plan in terms of if there’s anything we want to improve round the ground, we’ve held off certain [improvements] as we didn’t know what was going to happen.”
