A TOWN’S football club is planning a raft of improvements to its ground after securing a long-term lease for the site.

Northallerton Town Football Club has just signed a 25-year lease with the stadium’s owner, businessman Bill Calvert, which has enabled the club’s committee to begin planning improvements to the Ainderby Road football ground.

The club hopes to begin by replacing its ageing floodlights and plans to apply to Hambleton District Council for planning permission for the redevelopment within the next few weeks.

It will be submitting applications to funding bodies for sports grants to help meet some of the cost – including an application to the UK’s largest sports charity, the Football Foundation, which is funded by the Premier League. After applying for grants, the club also plans to launch a funding appeal.

Longer term, Northallerton Town FC also hopes to put in new changing facilities for junior teams and add a female changing room.

Committee member Mark Walker said: “We’ve been working on getting a longer-term lease and it’s great this has come to fruition.

“Now we have a 25 year lease granted, it opens up a lot of possibilities.

“The key issue for us at the moment is the lighting for the ground.

“We’re looking for new floodlights which cost approximately £50,000.

“We should be able to get some grant funding through different funding sources, but we’ll have to raise some ourselves.

“There’s also the possibility of improving the changing facilities longer term and if we get promotion we can get funding for further stands.

“This news has opened up lots more opportunity for us, as well as a more secure future.”

The club has a long history in the town and is believed to have been established more than 100 years ago, in 1895.

The team joined the Northern League in 1982, where it currently plays in Division Two.

The ground is owned by Thirsk businessman Bill Calvert, head of the carpet and flooring empire, Calverts Carpets.

He rescued the club when it went bankrupt in 1994 and also sponsors the stadium.

Part of the redevelopment will mean the ground will officially be named the Calvert Stadium.