It’s high noon at Workington’s Ranch – and both sides are ready for a showdown.
Workington Juniors AFC are anxious for contracts to be signed so the land at Moss Bay can be released to the community but the town council is declining to put pen to paper until certain undisclosed legal issues can be resolved.
It’s resulted in a stand-off and fears that the deal won’t go ahead – with the town council accused of wasting taxpayers’ money.
Even MP Mark Jenkinson has weighed into the battle – urging the town council to get on with the process.
He said: “I call on them to do what they agreed to do, or risk scuppering the future of this community asset.”
It’s an issue that has become a true political football as ‘a small number’ of Labour Group town council members are being blamed by the outgoing Conservative MP for the hold-up.
The land will be bought with a loan from the Government – but just like a loan from a high street bank, it accrues interest.
Mr Jenkinson is concerned that because no signatures have yet been put on the dotted line by the authority, the interest costs are being passed on to the taxpayers without any benefit from actually owning the land.
Mr Jenkinson said: “They may as well pile taxpayers’ hard-earned cash in the Duffield Beacon in Vulcan Park, and then burn it.”
But Michael Heaslip, on behalf of the town council’s Labour Group, said: “Even though he failed to get elected to it, Mark Jenkinson is trying to run Workington Town Council – at great cost to the town’s council taxpayers.
“We had applied for a grant from the GDF Community Partnership to purchase the Ranch, but when Mr Jenkinson interfered in Whitehall to push through a loan, it meant we were no longer eligible for a grant.
“The difference in cost to council tax payers is £250,000 – we have to pay for the loan as opposed to nothing if we had got the grant.”
The town council said it would not proceed with signing the contract as issues surrounding it must be resolved before it goes any further.
Mr Heaslip added: “Everyone at Workington Town Council remains fully committed to the purchase of the Ranch to provide sports facilities for the young people of Workington and wider community use.
“At every step of this process, all councillors, whether Labour, Independent or Conservative have backed the purchase in every single vote on this matter.
“However, similar to when you buy a house, it takes time and requires due process to protect all the council taxpayers of Workington, and that’s our first duty as councillors.
“There are still a number of legal and financial issues to be negotiated.”
Meanwhile, sources close to the juniors football club said it was becoming increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the entire process.
The saga has been rumbling on since last May and there has been drama aplenty – including football club members protesting outside town council meetings and a war of words.
The venue has been used by generations of families in the town. Originally part of the steelworks, it has latterly become the home of Workington Juniors.
It looked likely that site owner David Hill was planning to sell off the land and there were fears that it could be eventually be used for housing – leaving the sports club homeless.
Cumbria Crack understands that Mr Hill is also becoming frustrated with the lack of progress on the deal.
It is understood that on February 7, it was believed by Mr Hill that the deal was set to be done, but was then later advised that a further special meeting was required before the exchange of contracts could take place.
It is now understood that he has now set the council a deadline of later this month to either get the deal over the line or inform him of how it wishes to proceed.
Mr Jenkinson said the land at Moss Bay was being sold at below market value, with the proceeds going to charity and ‘dither and delay by the town council’ has left ‘hundreds of children in limbo’.
