Help save Braintree Town FC

Braintree Town FC has been in dialogue with Braintree District Council for nearly 10 years on relocating to a new stadium. With planning applications refused and a new community stadium removed from the local plan, the club has so far been unable to garner support from the local authority for relocation.

Recently the council have released the proposals for the next local plan for housing developments this includes land owned by the council adjacent to the Ironmongery Direct Stadium. This land is currently leased to the football club by the council with the lease due to expire in 2030, the lease going through to 2030 but the Local Plan designates 60 houses on the land to be built in 2022 so could be subject to a compulsory purchase order . The land is currently used as a training pitch used by the first and reserve teams, and also the car park for users of the stadium and social club.

If the land is developed for housing not only will the club lose its training ground and car park but also access to the turnstile block used for away fans when the ground is segregated. The club will have to find alternative arrangements for training, and users of the stadium will be forced to park in neighbouring residential streets.

This would all mean that there is a very real chance that the club would be unable to continue to operate at their current home, and with no support for relocation the very existence of the club is under threat.

Please sign this petition so that a football club that has been in existence since 1889 can continue.