A LIFELINE has been offered to Bodmin Town Football club by its landlords.

The community-owned, volunteer run football club, which plays at Priory Park in the town, has faced issues after its main stand was condemned in its current form.

It is understood that electrical and structural works are required to remedy the issues with the 1950’s-built Dennison Stand at the ground, which it leases from Bodmin Town Council.

At a recent meeting of Bodmin Town Council’s policy and resources committee, councillors discussed what could be done to assist the football club to afford the works required to reopen the stand.

Two options were discussed – one, involving the offering of a rent free period to enable the club to enable them to pay for the necessary repairs, or the second, which involved the council paying for the repairs required to reopen the stand and recover the costs on a repayment plan, subject to receiving the pre-requisite information from the club.

After a discussion of the options, Cllr Liz Ahearn, chair of the community services committee said to fellow councillors: “What we need to do is find out what length of free rent is needed by the club in order to allow it to make these repairs.

“The people behind it are working hard at moving forward and doing their utmost to keep the club going and they must have an actual plan of what to fix and when. I know they are doing a lot of advertisement for more support from the community, and I really would like people to support.”

The councillors present at the meeting were in agreement of the importance to support the football club, given its role it plays in the community.

Cllr Ahearn then proposed that Bodmin Town Council offer the football club an initial three month rent-free period with a review period after that in order to buy the club time to give the council an action plan and supply information, and that if another rent free period was required after the three-month period, the council could evaluate it.

The proposals by Cllr Ahearn were unanimously supported by committee members.