Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Sports hub plan to end football club’s 18-year home wait
The prospect of a major new sporting hub being created near Bridge has taken another step forward this week.
Canterbury City FC are being offered the chance to join the city’s rugby club in an ambitious double relocation, ending an 18-year wait for a permanent home for the football side.
But the move is dependent on permission being secured for a huge holiday and retirement village on the site at Highland Court Farm, details of which were recently revealed by the Gazette.
Part of the proposal includes the £4 million relocation of Canterbury Rugby Club from Merton Lane North to the farm site.
Now the currently homeless football club are in advanced talks with developer Mark Quinn about also finding a new base there, for which land would be donated.
If the plan goes ahead, it could free up land for housing at Merton Lane North and finally secure a home for the football club booted off its Kingsmead site in 1999.
Canterbury City currently play in Ashford and plan to groundshare with Deal Town next season.
Chairman Tim Clark said: “We have had a few false starts and really need a permanent home of Ryman League standard.
“There is a certain logic to moving with the rugby club and it would give us the opportunity to create a hub to grow the club.
“We are in very positive talks with the developer and have around £1.2 million to invest.”
The scheme, which includes 300 holiday houses, 150 retirement homes, a 50-acre business park and a health spa, has already run into opposition from conservationists.
Although served by a readymade easy access off the A2, the location is in an area of outstanding natural beauty, which opponents say should not be built on.
Mark Quinn admits there are “significant hurdles” to get over to convince council planners, but claims it will result in the “betterment” of the countryside.
But the prospect of the redevelopment of the rugby club site, owned by the Wacher family, concerns the chairman of the Langton and Nackington Road Residents Association, Malcolm Harris.
“It’s the kind of location where you could easily see houses being built,” he said. “But there are question marks over the narrow access in Merton Lane North and the increased traffic it would generate in Nackington Road, so it is something we will be keeping a very close eye on.”