Council puts land deal 'bedevilled with twists and turns' on hold for another week at least after Northampton Town matches rivals' £2 million bid

A land deal which could see Northampton Town finally finish the eyesore East Stand at Sixfields is back on hold — for another week at least.

West Northamptonshire Council cabinet members decided to defer a decision on selling land next to the stadium to the club and its owners despite Cobblers increasing its offer at the last-minute.

Leader Jonathan Nunn said he hoped the deal would finally get the green light at the next meeting on Tuesday (March 8).

But opposition councillors seem likely to call for further scrutiny while rival bidders are threatening legal moves, which could cause more delays.

Councillor Nunn said: "Many of the things that were raised at last week's special full council meeting have been knocked down but we are not quite there yet.

"This is not kicking the can down the road. We have important points raised by council, we only went to the council because we wanted to listen to what they said.

"We'd like to bring this to the March meeting which is little over a week away. That gives us the added benefit that we can publish papers to be out there for just shy of a week and that's good governance."

The cabinet's finance portfolio holder, Councillor Malcolm Longley, admitted the scheme has been "bedevilled by twists and turns."

Football club owners Kelvin Thomas and Dave Bower had agreed last year to buy a 22-acre swathe of toxic land behind Sixfields. Officers told the council the agreed £890,000 price was acceptable because of the amount of remedial work required to make it suitable for redevelopment.

But a counter-bid from Cilldara forced a delay and many members at the previous week's meeting still wanted more information on why the council should accept a lower offer.

Officers warned accepting Cilldara's offer would mean breaking multiple leases on the land currently held by the football club, leading to a long and costly legal battle.

Neither Cllr Longley nor Cllr Nunn mentioned Cobblers matching a rival £2.05 million offer from property developers Cilldara earlier on Monday.

Lib-Dem leader Sally Beardsworth admitted last night: "I feel as though the ground is moving beneath my feet because something has happened that I don't know about.

"I still have reservations and worries about what's going to happen to the land and what's going to happen to the club if they have to pay for the stand."

Labour's Danielle Stone added: "This is a really good example of something that should have gone to the council's scrutiny committee.

"It would would have been helpful to call people from the club, the supporters and the cabinet... different people to come and talk to us so we get a fully-rounded perspective of all the issues."