Football club handed eviction notice over bills

FC Clacton has until May 2025 to vacate Rush Green Bowl

A non-league football club has been served with an eviction notice after failing to pay its bills.

Tendring District Council told FC Clacton it had until the end of the season, in May 2025, to leave Rush Green Bowl in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

The club was offered the chance to pay a one-off sum of £4,250 to lease the ground for the past seven years but failed to do so, the council said.

FC Clacton has been contacted for comment by the BBC.

The football ground is based on council-owned land at Rush Green Recreation Ground and has been used by the club since 1987.

The notice to leave was not due to affect the club's youth teams, which rent other pitches at the site.

The football club will also have to leave its clubhouse amid the dispute

A council spokesman said the club was offered a lease fee that was below market rate due to its "good community work", but refused to agree to the terms.

Peter Kotz, the council's cabinet member for assets, said: "These negotiations have been ongoing for years and no bills have paid in that time.

"We don’t want to kick the club out - but taxpayers can’t foot the bill, and we have been left in the unfortunate position that we must ask the club to vacate the site."

The Labour councillor said it was not fair on other clubs if FC Clacton continued to operate from the ground rent free.

He added the club would be able to remain at the ground if it paid its rent.

The council said it also wanted to know where money it had been taking for a telecommunications mast at the site had gone.

The figure was estimated to be £18,000 between April 2019 and October 2023 and was a key part of the club's rent offer being set at a lower cost.