PLANS for the redevelopment of the land adjacent to the home of Hartlepool United appear to be back on the agenda.

The club has secured funding to bid on the land currently occupied by the Mill House Leisure Centre, adjacent to The Northern Gas and Power Stadium.

Plans were afoot five years ago for the ground to be transferred from council ownership to that of the football club’s then owners Increased Oil Recovery Ltd.

But they stalled and the plans to redevelop both the ground and surrounding area, which included a hotel to be built at The Northern Gas and Power Stadium and student housing were placed on the back burner.

IOR left the club in the summer of 2015, replaced by JPNG and a new chairman in Gary Coxall. He did open preliminary talks with the council in the hope of getting the project back on track.

And the news yesterday that they have the finance to try and press ahead with the development could see the ambitious long-term plan to develop the area around the stadium to incorporate housing and retail to boost the local economy.

In March, the club signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hartlepool Borough Council which committed both organisations to work together for the betterment of the town.

Now the club will seek to secure further negotiations early in the New Year to drive forward the plans for the benefit of everyone in Hartlepool.

“This will be a big step towards securing the stabilizing the future of Hartlepool United,” said Chairman Gary Coxall.

“In football, you make money on matchdays, through transfers and sponsorship – we can’t compete with the bigger clubs on most of that and we could just say ‘we’re putting the ticket prices up’ but who will that help?

“We’re looking at making the club self-sustaining through property development so that prices don’t have to go up, not now and not in the long-term.

“We’ve said from the start that our plans are to grow Hartlepool United whilst maintaining the strong community links and this project will benefit the community so much that those links can only be strengthened.”