Basingstoke Town confirm they will leave the Camrose ground, their home for over 70 years

BASINGSTOKE TOWN have announced they are to move from their Camrose home after a review found that staying at the ground was not “economically or practicably feasible”.

Town have been assessing their options following the announcement that chairman and owner Rafi Razzak would be quitting the club at the end of the current season.

The club’s Interim Management Group (IMG) have been looking towards the future and last month confirmed their intentions to make the club a community owned entity.

One of the big question marks over the club’s future was where they would play their football with fears raised over the feasibility of improving the Camrose, which has been their home since 1945.

The IMG say the facilities at the Camrose “are out of date and cannot conform with modern standards without substantial new investment”.

The group added that they had looked at ways of raising the funds to improve the ground, which would have included redeveloping part of the stadium and moving the pitch.

However, after consideration, that idea was rejected “as it created operating problems and failed to provide enough money to help relocate the pitch and stands, upgrade facilities to modern requirements, and clear the club’s debts”.

With the Camrose deemed not fit for purpose going forward, the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier club must now decide whether to try and develop a brand new stadium or move to an existing site which has the potential to be brought up to Step 3 standard.

Basingstoke’s head of digital and marketing Will Wilkinson said: “We are now looking at options to redevelop the Camrose Ground to generate enough money to cover the cost of the land, clear the clubs debts and leave money left over to pay for the move.

“The key to which option we can take is dependent on how much money we can get from the redevelopment of the Camrose. We hope to have a final decision on our preferred long-term solution during March.

“At this stage it is not clear where we will be playing football in the 2017-18 season, but the IMG will be developing a number of different options, including developing a contingency plan just in case we need to move to an alternative ground while we await completion of our new long-term stadium.”