ILMINSTER NEWS: Will the grandstand stay or go?

THE future of the grandstand on the Ilminster Recreation Ground will be discussed this evening (Tuesday, June 21, 2016) by town councillors.

Members of Ilminster Town Council will meet to decide whether the grandstand at the Rec along Canal Way – which is officially known as the Wharf Lane Recreation Ground – should stay or be pulled down or councillors could instruct town clerk Joy Norris to get more information together before a final decision is made.

But there is more to it than councillors just making a decision about whether to keep the grandstand or bring in the bulldozers. Ilminster Town Football Club still has - legally - the use of the grandstand and its facilities.

In 1938 the Ilminster Town FC was granted a licence by the Urban District Council of Ilminster to “play football and erect necessary apparatus with stand or pavilion in the Town Recreation Ground.”

The 1938 licence appears to be have been superseded by a licence dated February 21, 1988, which includes references to use of ground for playing football matches and practice matches as well as putting up floodlights and giving “the right to exclusive use of the two grandstands urinal and sump now on the pitch.”

The football club – which has moved its headquarters from the recreation ground to the adjoining Britten’s Field with the building of the Archie Gooch Pavilion – has now written to the town council stating that it wants to retain the grandstand as it will still be using the pitch for matches and will therefore need the toilets and storage facilities.

But the town council has gained planning permission from South Somerset District Council for renovating The Shed on behalf of Ilminster Cricket Club.

These plans include demolishing the grandstand to enable The Shed – which the cricket club has now taken over permanently following the football club’s move – to be extended to provide an improved bar and kitchen area and a new groundsman’s store.

Town clerk has sought legal advice and details have been given councillors as a confidential document.

PHOTO: The grandstand at the Ilminster Recreation Ground. Photo – courtesy of the Football Club History Database website - http://www.fchd.info/grounds/ilminstt.htm .