Football club needs longer lease for ground upgrade funding bid

An East Lancashire football club needs a new land lease agreement to help it upgrade its ground in an era of change.

Nelson Football Club is investing £500,000 of private cash from its own board members to improve facilities at its Victoria Park ground, known as ‘Little Wembley’ according to the club. But it also wants to apply for external funding and needs a new 25-year lease with Pendle Council, which owns the land.

Councillors on Pendle’s Nelson area committee will look at the situation at their latest meeting this week.

Nelson Football Club, nicknamed The Admirals, was founded in 1882 by members of the town’s cricket club. Its first reported game was a 3–1 home defeat to Burnley Olympic in December that year, according to club information. In 1923, Nelson won the old Football League Third  Division North and then reached the old Second Division North.

Today, the club is in the North West Counties League First Division North. Other clubs in the division include Darwen, Garstang and Skelmersdale.

Nelson is currently undergoing significant changes, including the investment of money, time and effort, according to the club from figures including Stewart Fort, with financial backing, and Chris Price, the chairman.

Improvements include a new clubhouse, a new stand, an electronic information screen, a corporate executive complex, football pitch and pathway improvements.

A report for Pendle councillors recommends them to approve the surrender of the existing lease to Nelson FC and grant a new 25 year contracted-out lease on the same terms, subject to a new rent of £1,500 per year.

The report states: “The club has recently gone through a number of leadership changes and the board members have privately invested around £500,000 to improve the ground and facilities. The club have advised that they are planning to submit a grant application to install environmentally-friendly LED lights as a further improvement that will reduce the use of power. A requirement of the funding is that the club hold a legal interest (lease) for a longer period than the existing lease of only 10 years.”

The current lease was made in May 2014 between Pendle Council and Nelson Football Club Ltd. It was to hold the Lease from August 2013 for 21 years at a rent of £1,000 with rent reviews every three years. The rent has not yet been increased but that could now change.

The council report adds: “Nelson Football Club has been an integral part of the local community, providing a valuable space for sports and recreation. Over the last few years there has been little investment to the facilities. However since mid-2024 a new leadership team has funded improvements of £500,000 and has plans to further develop the ground and the facilities it provides to the community.”

There is no right for the club to stay in the premises when the lease ends nor can it claim compensation for the loss of the premises. Any future development on the leased land would be subject to approval processes, the Pendle Council report adds.