Yeovil Town warn club could end up back in non-league football

OFFICIALS at Yeovil Town FC have warned that the club could end up back in non-league football if it does not get the backing of South Somerset District Council over proposals to develop the Huish Park stadium site.

The club is desperate to get the go-ahead to develop part of its site – which it has described as “derelict” – for a food store to be built on the north end of the ground.

The finance raised from the food store in partnership with CDS International will then allow the club to develop the stadium itself into a 10,000 all-seater ground, provide meeting rooms, conference facilities, community areas, offices, and new supporter social facilities.

But if the club fails to get the support of the council – the whole scheme will nosedive and with it, potentially, Yeovil’s fortunes on the pitch.

The club took ten years from its promotion to the Football League in 2003 to get to The Championship - the second tier of English football. There are fears that Yeovil could end up back where they started from much quicker if the club is unable to develop its ground.

PHOTO - ABOVE: An artist's impression of how the proposed store might look at Huish Park.

A report, which has just been submitted to South Somerset District Council to support an initial planning application made in February 2012, said: “During the past 20 years the current chairman (John Fry) and directors of the club have brought unbelievable success and recognition to the town of Yeovil.

“This in turn has brought to the local economy substantial numbers of visitors and new revenues.”

But the report added: “Without this injection of money the regeneration planned the club is unlikely to maintain the success it has had and will return to play in the lower leagues and possibly return to non-league football.

“This will put in jeopardy the 250 paid jobs at the Huish Park Stadium and have an adverse impact on the club’s community and youth development plans for the South Somerset area.”

The report – entitled a “special circumstances support document for the food store planning application on the Huish Park Stadium site – said that the supermarket would create a further 300 jobs.

The key aims and objectives of the proposed development are as follows:

• To improve the playing and supporter facilities at Huish Park to Championship league standards by 2016.
• To enhance facilities for families at Huish Park and enable the club to maintain its Family Excellence reputation and awards from the Football League.
• To benefit the residents and supporters of Yeovil and South Somerset by regenerating the near derelict 25-acre Huish Park site to provide essential and long overdue funds for modernising, upgrading and extending the existing stadium. This would provide new sports and leisure opportunities, increasing the utilisation of the site and securing the long term financial viability of Yeovil football.

CDS International is a Plymouth-based company run by millionaire entrepreneur Chris Dawson with stores called The Range.

Club chairman John Fry is expected to make a presentation to South Somerset District Council about the plans in March.

PHOTO: A layout of the proposed development at Huish Park.

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