Plans to buy land in Workington for a junior football club are pressing ahead, the town council has confirmed.
The authority is in the process of buying land off Moss Bay Road, known as the Ranch, so it can remain the home of Workington Junior Football Club.
There were fears that without the town council’s backing, the land would be sold to a private developer and hundreds of children would lose out on the essential sports pitches.
The town council will borrow the cash to buy it from the Government-funded Public Loans Board – but managed to set the cat among the pigeons by posting a question on social media site Facebook asking “Would you be happy to have £2.60 added to your annual council tax bill in order for Workington Town Council to pay back the loan needed in order to purchase the land?”
Football club officials said they were left bewildered by the question. Chairman of Workington Junior FC, David Garrett, said: “This is a total red herring.
“The repayments for this loan will be paid back in full by the club in the form of a monthly rent paid to the council.
“The resulting cost to Workington Town Council will be zero and they will own the Ranch so why do they want £2.60 added to Workington residents’ annual council tax bill?”
But Catherine Gorley, the town council clerk, said the question was part of a contingency plan the council had to provide the Public Loans Board as part of its application.
She said: “We have to show that if anything did happen in the future that prevented the club paying us rent, we would be able to make the payments on the loan – which is why we asked the question. It’s not a case of it happening now. We know the club is committed and we are committed. We just have to show this now to make sure the application goes through quickly and doesn’t come back to us.”
She added that the town council met with the football club yesterday, July 19, and everything was proceeding as planned.
