FROME Town’s Badgers Hill stadium and grounds is now owned by the community following the purchase of the site by Frome Town Council on Thursday 3rd August. The move secures the home of Frome Town Football Club and also the ground as a community asset for the town.
The exciting initiative came to fruition when Frome Town Council exercised its option to purchase the grounds from Frome Town Holdings Ltd. As part of the plan, a 25-year lease was granted to the Frome Town Community Benefit Society (FTCBS) which was formed following a plea for local people to support the initiative, which they answered in force at a public meeting with the football club and town council.
The FTCBS will now run and manage the grounds, including issuing a lease to Frome Town AFC to secure Badgers Hill as the continuing home of Frome Town. The three parties involved, Frome Town Community Benefit Society, Frome Town Council, and Frome Town AFC, say that whilst seemingly complicated, this means that this fantastic community resource will be retained for the community of Frome.
£364,000 grant
In further good news for the club, they say that following a successful application by Frome Town Council, FTCBS will soon receive a grant-funded award of £364,000 from the community ownership fund which will support ongoing work at Badgers Hill football stadium. Added to the £311,000 already invested by Frome Town Council into the site, this represents a huge boost for both sport in the town and the community of Frome as a whole.
The funding is for improvement to the site, facilities management, immediate repairs, professional services, roof repairs, repairs to the clubhouse, turnstiles and accessibility improvements which are the immediate concerns, but it also allows planning for further investment to take place.
Closure threat
The site faced imminent closure at the end of last year as the owners were unable to repay loans secured against the site. Frome Town Council paid off the lender to allow time to explore community ownership in exchange for the option to acquire the site for £1 and to “save the important community asset for the sporting, social, cultural, environmental and economic value it brings to the Frome community.”
Following the well-attended public meeting, the FTCBS was formed to pave the path to community ownership; however during this time, site surveys revealed the need for significant urgent repairs. This investment will support that.
Andrew Carpenter, chair of the FTCBS said, “Understandably we are delighted – but there is much to do. Now our priority must be to secure the safety of the site and plan improvements to the site. But it is not all about football – we need to make sure that this site – one of Frome’s largest venues – is open and accessible to the rest of the wider community as part of our commitment to the community ownership fund. We have achieved a lot in a brief period of time, but we will need the help of even more passionate volunteers to help us along the way as members and directors of FTCBS.”
This comes as Frome Town Council take the final steps to acquire the freehold of the ground by taking up its option. The funding will then support the CBS to become leaseholders of the site and take on its management.
Leader of the council, cllr Lisa Merryweather said, “This is an extremely exciting time for the Badgers Hill site, the tenants and indeed the residents of Frome. Community ownership of the site and grant funding will help ensure that the facility is preserved for the wider community for years to come. It is also an endorsement of the amount of resource and work that has already been put into the project by the newly formed FTCBS, Frome Town Council, and our partners at the football club. Well done to all concerned, but this is where challenging work really starts.”
Football club chair Derek Graham says, “This is fantastic news – and exciting times ahead. It really helps secure the foundations of the football club and the funding alongside the FTCBS. Our thanks must also go to Frome Town Council staff and councillors, the Football Supporters Association and Andy Walsh for working so tirelessly to support both the CBS and the bid. This will allow the club to focus on what it does best, which is football!”
The bid not only sought funding but set out a business plan and the aspirations of the FTCBS. It is expected that as part of the commitment to the funding, further community and sporting partnerships will develop around venue use, there will be a commitment to a community ticket scheme and there will be funded activities for disadvantaged groups.
If you want to follow the news, get involved or find out about how you can become a member follow the story at www.badgershillnews.org and across FTAFC channels. If you would like to use your skills in communications or fundraising, we have two vacancies on the board of the CBS which may interest you. Get in touch with Andrew Carpenter at andrew.carpenter@structuraltimber.co.uk.
