Northampton Town: Cobblers complete East Stand land deal

The stand at Sixfields has remained unfinished since 2014

A League One club has formally completed a land deal which will allow it to finish a long-awaited new stand.

Northampton Town's East Stand has remained unfinished since construction work stopped in 2014.

West Northamptonshire Council agreed to sell land to the club in February and the club confirmed a contract had now been finalised.

Cobblers chairman Kelvin Thomas said "new CGI images and timescales" would be announced "in the very near future".

Mr Thomas previously stated he hoped work on the stand would be complete by 2026.

The plan to redevelop the East Stand at Sixfields was first announced in 2013 and Buckingham Group, the main contractor, began work the following year.

However, the contractor stopped the work within a year, saying they had not been paid, and downed tools again the following year for the same reason.

Cobblers' chairman Kelvin Thomas said he hoped the East Stand would be completed by 2026

Conservative-controlled West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) approved a deal for £2m from County Developments Northampton Ltd (CDNL), a company owned by the club's owners, to buy the land behind the stand.

It included an undertaking to complete the work on the ground's East Stand.

But the deal was subject to a judicial review last year, brought against WNC by a rival bidder, with the High Court ruling in favour of the council.

In a statement, Mr Thomas said: "This is fantastic news for the club, and we are delighted to have concluded the process.

"We have made a significant investment here to increase the club's asset base which will allow for improvements in infrastructure, especially the East Stand, that we have always discussed.

He said GRS Group, the club's construction partner, were continuing "preliminary work that is required" for the stand.

Council leader Jonathan Nunn said the land deal "represents excellent value for taxpayers", with "a far greater final sale price than the initial professional assessments of the land's value".

He said: "This deal offers the best chance of beneficial development of the land."