Kelvin Thomas provides East Stand update as club and council continue discussions

Cobblers chairman Kelvin Thomas has provided an update on the East Stand as discussions continue between the club and West Northamptonshire Council.

The two parties have been in regular dialogue since the successful outcome of the judicial review earlier in the summer, and once the legal paperwork has been signed off, work can begin on the East Stand.

The club had been speaking to Buckingham over finishing the stand at Sixfields but the construction company recently entered administration. However, Thomas does not believe that will have a significant impact on timescales.

"We're making progress,” he said. “The lawyers are working on the documents as we speak and I have a Zoom meeting with the council next week to go over some of the legal points.

"It's a complicated process and anyone who has any experience of these kind of deals will know it's not a short-term thing but we're all pushing to get it done.

"Most people saw the news about Buckingham, which we responded to at the time, and we're in discussions with other builders. It looks like Buckingham won't have their sports stadia division any longer but we're comfortable in our position.

"It's hard to put a time on it because it's a legal process and we're not in control of it. The cabinet papers said six to nine months to dispose the land but it'll be done much quicker than that. It won't be days or weeks but we'll do it right and we have an idea of the timescale in terms of the build. We just need to firm up a couple of things before we publish anything."