Club did not need my help at time

I would like to address the comments made by the Chairman of Canterbury FC, Tim Clark, in a letter last week questioning my support for the club while I was a councillor [‘Why not help before, Mike?’].

My term as a councillor from 2014 to 2015 was an exciting time for the future of the club, which was very positive about its proposed move to Hersden. It was a move which, at the time, Mr Clark said he was “very happy” about and would have provided the club with a future in a sustainable location.

In April 2015 the city council, of which I was a member, agreed to give the club £525,000 in proceeds from the sale of its old Kingsmead Stadium and part-lend, part-grant it an extra £606,000.

As a Lib Dem councillor I went further and supported a motion to full council, proposed by the Lib Dem leader Alex Perkins, to award the club the full £606,000 but this motion was defeated by the ruling Conservative Party by 20 to 12.

While I do not recall being contacted by officials of the club while serving as a councillor, I have supported the football club at every opportunity in the council chamber and watched them on a number of occasions when they played in Bridge.

Mr Clark says that the CT1 and CT2 postcode areas have the lowest football-playing youth per capita in Kent.

To address this a new home needs to be easily accessible to boys and girls in those areas. Apart from the environmental impacts of building in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), this is another reason why Highland Court is not the right location.