Row erupts over £10,000 study for Wivenhoe football ground

Colchester Council leader Mark Cory and the Wivenhoe and District Sporting Facilities Trust have come under fire for the council’s revolving investment fund subsidising a feasibility study for the Broad Lane site in Wivenhoe.

Alistair Heron, who has a long-standing interest in the ground, accused the council of “behaving like avaricious property developers” and of unlawfully meddling in the lease, which is an asset of the charitable trust.

But Mr Cory batted off allegations of him acting underhandedly or there being a conflict of interest.

In order to get the FA’s potential investment of £1 million, he said the group “must have faith in the leases and governance system in place”.

Mark Cory at Wivenhoe Quay..

He said: “My whole ethos is to bring in investment for that site and we have the opportunity to make it better. It’s about protecting what’s there and ensuring it’s there for the future.

“There’s no funny business at all. We need full and proper legal agreements in place going forward to attract FA funding, that will be better for everybody.”

Objection to taxpayers’ money being spent on a study was defended by the fact the investment would fund facilities for public use.

Trust chairman Colin Game explained the site has not improved in years and he confirmed the council is supporting joint discussions.

If new agreements are formed with them, only then would the trust surrender the lease and potentially dissolve.

Mr Game said: “In terms of the trust we haven’t signalled any intention to dissolve.

“However we’re allowing the council to have discussions with each site user with the view to potentially looking at a different governance model and them having a more direct relationship with the council rather than via the trust.

“For whatever reason, people see this as a big developer coming in and taking on the site, which is utter rubbish.

“The whole point is to improve facilities - it’s as simple as that.”

However, Mr Heron said: “This is all a diversion. There’s no reason to dissolve a charitable trust set up to protect a community asset.

“Furthermore, there are no lawful grounds to do so.”