Northampton Town: Land deal struck over missing loan stand

Northampton Town Football Club borrowed money from Northampton Borough Council to improve its stadium, but the East Stand has never been finished

A long-awaited football stand development which was at the heart of a scandal involving a missing £10.25m loan could finally be finished.

Northampton Town's East Stand was supposed to be refurbished with the money, but work stalled in 2014.

A new deal between the club and West Northamptonshire Council will allow the stand to be completed and land around Sixfields Stadium to be developed.

Club chairman Kelvin Thomas said it was a "very exciting time for the club".

The money had originally been loaned to Northampton Town in 2013 by Northampton Borough Council to rebuild the stand and develop land around the ground.

Cobblers' chairman Kelvin Thomas said the agreement had followed a robust and independent process

The borough council has since been replaced by West Northamptonshire Council as part of a unitary realignment of local government in the county.

Work on the stadium was not completed after contractors went unpaid.

Long-running negotiations between the club and the council have been taking place in recent years, with the local authority insisting work on the stand had to be finished before land next to the stadium could be sold to the club for redevelopment.

On Wednesday, it was announced a deal has finally been reached.

It will see the council sell the land, which will be developed for warehousing, to County Developments Northampton Ltd (CDNL), which is owned by the football club, for £890,000.

The cost of the land has been agreed following an independent valuation.

The land deal will not be completed until the East Stand development is finished. This will be paid for by the club's owners.

The agreement will need to be discussed by the council on 2 December and agreed by its cabinet on 7 December.

The land around the stadium will be used for warehousing

Mr Thomas said the club was "very pleased" to have reached an agreement in principle.

"With the past problems we fully understood that the council needed to follow such a lengthy, thorough, robust and independent process," he said.

"This was very important so that this agreement would stand up to scrutiny and allow the club to move forward on the East Stand."

He said once the land deal was agreed by the council "then the East Stand development can continue".

• Northampton Town and the missing money

• Seven people charged in missing loan probe

• Council sorry for 'woeful' football club loan

The Conservative leader of the council, Jonathan Nunn, said: "It has been no secret the club has been keen to buy and develop the land around the football stadium.

"We, like Northampton Borough Council before us, were clear no deal could be actioned until work on the East Stand was completed."