CHANGES to a restrictive covenant, Sport England funding and a car park extension will be debated by councillors when they are asked to give their backing to a series of measures to support the development of a rugby ground.

Darlington Borough Council has been working with Darlington Rugby Football Club (DRFC) and Darlington Football Club on the development of the rugby club’s Blackwell Meadows site as part of a groundshare between the two clubs.

Negotiations have been ongoing for 15 months between all sides about the changes needed to develop a community sports hub at Blackwell Meadows and help The Quakers return to Darlington for the start of the 2015/16 season.

At a meeting of the council’s cabinet on Tuesday, members will be asked to agree to:

• grant delegated powers to Ian Williams, the authority’s director of economic growth, to negotiate a lease with DRFC for 3.6 acres of adjacent agricultural land to create a 250 space car park;

• release £70,000 of Sport England funding, should an application under consideration be successful, to contribute towards the cost of the car park, and

• relax a restrictive covenant on Blackwell Meadows to allow DRFC to secure adequate borrowing to fund its share of the development work.

Tony Stowe, ground development manager for DRFC, said the change to the covenant is key to ensuring the rugby club can fund its share of the improvement work.

He said: “Twenty years ago the council sold us the land at Blackwell Meadows but with a covenant that if we sold the land, the rugby club would only receive the money it had paid with the profit going to the council.

“It was in case we turned round and sold the site to Tesco. That was fine, we only wanted somewhere to play rugby, but now that covenant means when we go to banks for a loan, they can only lend us up to the limit of the covenant.

“Changing that covenant will allow us to lend the money we need to invest in Blackwell Meadows.”

Mr Stowe praised the efforts of council officers, adding: “There are grateful thanks from both clubs for those people that have worked tirelessly on our behalf.”

A report prepared for councillors suggests that the covenant be capped at an undisclosed amount to protect the authority in future. A covenant restricting the land to sporting use only will remain.

It concludes: “Facilitating the expansion of Blackwell Meadows and enabling Darlington Football Club to relocate will hopefully safeguard the future of both clubs but also ensure the council’s investment to date in the additional playing pitches is protected.”

If the cabinet agrees the three elements, development work at Blackwell Meadows is expected to begin in April, with work to improve the pitch in May.